"Many sides to pension debate"

Albany, New York Times Union

By FRED LeBRUN, staff writer

First published: Sunday, May 18, 2008

Lawyers are finally defending themselves as to whether they deserve pension credits in the coveted state retirement system.

It's about time.

Up to now, we've only heard from state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on the subject, and he's not enough.

The AG has whipped up quite a firestorm alleging all sorts of abuses that plays right to the public's generally dismal view of lawyerly conduct.

Cuomo may be New York's First Lawyer, but he's also by function a prosecutor.

Believe it or not, prosecutors aren't always right.

There's got to be another side or two or three to this pension business, no matter how it has been billed by a grandstanding Cuomo as really pretty simple and clear cut.

It is not.

High-profile Albany lawyer Jim Roemer has filed suit in state Supreme Court to halt the separate investigations by Cuomo and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli into pension enrollment and to restore any pension credits taken away because of the investigations.

Now the courts will get involved, and other hotshot lawyers with different points of view.

I have confidence that out of the process will come a more reasonable and even-handed scrutiny of these lawyers doing the legal scut work at the lowest municipal levels across the state.

My prediction is a relative few will get nailed for fraud and abuse, and trying to "play" the pension system, but most will be exonerated.

But we're a long way from the point where anything can be said with confidence on the subject of lawyers and state pensions.

Not that I necessarily agree with all of Roemer's assertions in his suit.

He calls Cuomo's investigation "a politically motivated gambit."

If he's saying the attorney general may be trying to leverage himself into higher office, that may be.

So what?

Good for him.

That doesn't alter the fact that those who abused the pension system should get nailed by the AG, and hot pursuit is certainly to Cuomo's credit, regardless of motivation.

My quibble with the attorney general is that he casts a very wide rhetorical net with his unproved suspicions that have the power to damage the careers of a lot lawyers who don't deserve it.

Roemer also states that Comptroller DiNapoli is following an "illegal and unconstitutional course of action" by reviewing the pension status of every lawyer in the state retirement system, and in a few instances so far taking away pension credits.

I thought that it is the comptroller's fiduciary responsibility as the sole trustee of the state retirement system to see that the investment side is perking along nicely, and that those drawing pensions or accruing credits deserve them.

I guess we'll have to let the courts clarify this, and everything else for that matter.

Interestingly, the ample inflammatory rhetoric about lawyers and state pensions has come from the prosecutorial Cuomo camp, not from the accountant-auditor DiNapoli camp.

The comptroller side has been very quiet.

The two are actually operating in very different ways.

Cuomo is blasting away with a shotgun.

DiNapoli is getting his surgeon's knife ready.

If you haven't guessed, I happen to think Tom DiNapoli is taking a far more responsible approach.

"We're taking a hard look at every lawyer on a case by case basis," he said Friday.

Every lawyer who's in the retirement system, or seeking to be in the system, is in essence being audited.

"This is not a new issue."

"It's been around for many, many years," DiNapoli added.

"But unquestionably, because of heighten interest we're taking a more determined look."

The comptroller's office has issued new regulations so that municipalities can get the certification into the retirement system properly the first time.

"I felt we needed to be more clear," DiNapoli said, which suggests the previous regulations and enrollment system needed clarification at the very least.

The central question is whether the lawyers in question are independent contractors, or municipal employees.

Only employees are eligible for pension credits.

"It's an issue of classification," the comptroller said.

Roemer's suit also raises the point that answering that seemingly simple classification question is not as easy as Cuomo has maintained.

There's a checklist that's helpful in determining whether a lawyer, or any other professional for that matter, qualifies as an employee, and some of these indices are not cut and dried.

Much of the anger and wrath I detected from the public reacting to an earlier column I wrote on this subject centers on the supposed rip-off of the taxpayers by the abusing lawyers.

Even this is murky.

Tier 1 pensioners didn't contribute to their pensions.

Their contributions were paid into the system by the local public employer.

But those in other tiers have paid a portion toward their own retirements, which means they've been paying some of their own way.

Also, much of the money paid out for pensions is generated from successful investments, and not really from the taxpayers at all.

So the rip-off here is not anywhere as grand as some have alleged.

Although granted, any rip-off by offending lawyers is wrong, and there's no argument on that point.

Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.

"Schools facing price pressure - Most Capital Region districts will raise spending in 2008-09 year; average is 6.3 percent"

By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, May 19, 2008

ALBANY -- It's school budget time and the cost of education is climbing.

A review of 45 Capital Region school districts that offer budgets, propositions and school board candidates to voters on Tuesday showed all but one increasing spending in the 2008-09 school year.

Only tiny North Greenbush -- which educates fewer than 200 K-1 students, who then go on to attend neighboring school districts -- plans to spend less, with a drop of 0.5 percent.

The average spending increase in area school districts is 6.3 percent.

The Guilderland and Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school districts have the lowest budget increases.

Guilderland will increase 2.1 percent to $83.8 million and RCS 2.17 percent to $41.9 million.

The Rensselaer school district's $22.7 million budget is a jump of 36 percent with a slight tax decrease because it centralized its operations to a new K-12 campus and is being reimbursed for the majority of that cost by the state.

The Cohoes school budget will not have a tax bump either because its 5.6 percent tax increase, to $35 million, is due to building projects that will also be reimbursed by the state.

Local taxpayers' bills aren't increasing at the rate of district budgets in large part because the $21.4 billion the state will spend on education next year includes more base aid for districts, which lowers the tax levy.

The average tax increase for local school districts will be about 2.8 percent, or less than the inflation rate of about 3.9 percent over the past year.

Still, just maintaining the same level of programs is taking a toll on budgets at a time of soaring gas and food prices and continuing increases for salaries and benefits.

"It continues to add to the woes," said Jim Matthews, the Albany school district's interim business superintendent.

Matthews said he's happy the district escaped with only a 15 percent increase in employee health care.

Most proposed budgets contain new academic programs, construction and building improvements.

Albany and Brunswick are increasing prekindergarten offerings, and districts including Duanesburg and Bethlehem will add full-day kindergartens.

The Schenectady school district is adding foreign languages for all seventh-graders, and the Ichabod Crane district is adding energy-efficient solar panels.

State mandates are also driving up the cost of education in Shenendehowa, where it's costing more to give students the same basic education, district spokeswoman Kelly DeFeciani said.

Case in point: This year the state says Shen must supply all middle- and high-school students with calculators that cost $140 a piece.

Last year, voters rejected the first budget offerings of the Albany, South Glens Falls and Hoosick Valley school districts.

The South Glens Falls and Hoosic Valley budgets passed when leaner versions were put before voters a second time.

Voters rejected the Albany city school budget two years in a row.

Superintendent Eva Joseph has blamed the outcome on higher costs to taxpayers associated with property reassessments and charter school costs.

Last year, the district adopted its first-ever contingency budget, which does not allow for expenses such as equipment, sports teams and school supplies.

Matthews said companies that supply school districts have been raising their rates at a faster pace than the consumer price index, which is used to measure the rate of inflation.

He said those costs are cutting into many area school budgets.

Many districts have been lowering their thermostats in the winter and have even sent letters home to parents asking children to wear sweaters.

How much voter interest will be generated by the months of budget work by school officials remains to be seen.

But in most years, school board elections have generated slim turnouts.

About 5,000 people voted in last year's Albany budget vote, fewer than 10 percent of those eligible.

Scott Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at swaldman@timesunion.com.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will likely be scarce in here for the next so many days ...

I am at the public library now, using their computer ...

Some weeks ago up here, a grocery company named Hannaford had a data breach ...

Somehow, as a result of their data breach, VISA thought my credit card account might be in jeopardy, so VISA took the trouble to cancel out my one credit card with them, and to issue me a new account number, with an explanation as to what had happened, and why ...

At about that same time, unbeknownst to me, the computer at VERIZON DSL BILLING was making an inquiry of VISA concerning my credit card which was canceled ...

Rather than tell VERIZON that the credit card account had been switched by VISA to a new number BECAUSE OF HANNAFORD'S MISTAKE ...

VISA told VERIZON that the account had been closed ...

So VERIZON's computer canceled out my DSL account, which I found out from VERIZON tech support this morning when I couldn't get on the internet ...

VERIZON was happy to hook me back up, since I was not in any arrears with them ...

BUT ...

I can't get hooked back up until 6:00 PM on 30 May 2008 ....

Until then, I am without internet service where I normally post my entires ...

And it is impractical for a lot of reasons to try and rely on this library computer to keep up with my posts ...

So for all practical purposes, I am cut off from the world ...

And as a disabled veteran who relies on the computer to "get out of the house", I am quite upset and disturbed at this incident ....

How much power these big corporations have over our lives as individuals, and there is not doodly-squat that we can do about it ...

HANNAFORD screwed up, and as a result, I don't have internet service ...

It's a small thing to them, most likely, but it is damn big thing to me ...

And as far as VERIZON was concerned, it was because I HAD A CREDIT CARD PROBLEM that I got cut off, so I'm just going to have to wait in the queu to get hooked back up ...

If it had not been for the carelessness of HANNAFORD, however, I wouldn't have had a problem at all ...

And so ...

"Paterson says he wouldn't pick NYRA"

Associated Press

Last updated: 6:42 p.m., Wednesday, May 28, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Gov. David Paterson says he doesn't think the New York Racing Association deserves to run thoroughbred racing, but he won't try to stop NYRA's latest franchise struck with former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The charge comes as Belmont Park, run by NYRA, prepares for the Belmont Stakes on June 7, which could see Big Brown become the winner of the Triple Crown.

Paterson says NYRA's past -- filled with state and federal investigations into corruption charges and the private group's recent stay in bankruptcy court -- show it doesn't deserve the 25-year extension.

NYRA won that in February along with a $105 million state bailout.

But Paterson says an agreement by state government should be honored even with a change in governors.

NYRA has operated Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga race tracks since 1955.

"NY approves disabled veteran jobs measure"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:22 p.m., Wednesday, May 28, 2008

ALBANY -- With a goal of a job for all returning disabled veterans, New York's Legislature on Wednesday made it easier for veterans returning from overseas to start careers in state government.

The bill, passed in the Senate Wednesday and in the Assembly May 5, allows the state to reclassify 200 more entry-level competitive class positions to noncompetitive.

The move is expected to promote appointment of veterans with disabilities and serve as an example to the private sector of how disabled veterans diversify and strengthen a work force.

That will increase the number of these jobs to 500, from 300, a level that hadn't changed since 1987.

Those 500 jobs will include duties that can be done by disabled veterans and may be filled only by veterans of the armed services who served in a time of war, according to the law.

Purple Heart medal recipients are given preference.

The law states that veterans must be medically certified for the jobs, but won't have to take written or spoken examinations.

They must still meet educational or experience requirements.

"It's important because we're at war and we sustained many casualties," said Senate Veterans Committee Chairman Vincent Leibell, whose district includes Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties.

"The goal is make sure every disabled veteran and every veteran, when they return, have a job ... and we get a disciplined worker and probably a greater career worker."

The measure had overwhelming support in both chambers.

"The state can set an example for employers everywhere in its commitment to a diversified work force," stated the Assembly's sponsor, Peter J. Abbate Jr., a Brooklyn Democrat.

"This act is especially important at the present moment, to ensure full opportunity for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan."

Lawmakers on Wednesday also began to plan ways to direct more state contracts to businesses owned by disabled veterans, said Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, a New York City Democrat.

"With a lot of the returning war veterans from the Iraq-Afghanistan war, we need to make sure the mistakes we made in the past in terms of employment opportunities for veterans aren't repeated," he said.

"NY attorney general: E-ZPass perks 'illegal'"

By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:32 p.m., Wednesday, May 28, 2008

NEW YORK -- Board members of the state's Thruway Authority on Wednesday agreed to stop using the free E-ZPass vehicle tags that exempt them from paying tolls on New York's highways.

The decision came after a push by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to end such travel perks -- a decades-long tradition at many public agencies.

Cuomo also demanded that members of the board of New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority do the same.

The Daily News revealed on Tuesday that about 60 past and present MTA board members -- many of them multimillionaires -- had gotten the free tags for life.

Among them is former MTA Chairman Peter S. Kalikow, who owns dozens of cars and reportedly has eight tags.

Board members serve the public "without salary or other compensation," according to state legislation that created both the MTA and the Thruway Authority.

Therefore, Cuomo's office warned, compensation in the form of an E-ZPass is "illegal."

Cuomo aide Benjamin Lawsky said in a letter to the MTA that the agency "should immediately terminate and rescind all free E-ZPass tags it has provided to its current and past board members," adding, "If the MTA wants to say thank you, maybe they should give flowers and some chocolates to board members, not an E-ZPass worth many thousands of dollars."

The authority's chairman, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, said Wednesday after a meeting of the MTA board that the practice has never been questioned, The New York Times reported.

But given the attorney general's position, he said, the MTA will ask a court to determine whether the E-ZPass perk constitutes compensation.

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said he could not immediately confirm Hemmerdinger's statement.

Agency officials said they would release a statement later Wednesday.

Lawsky also cited a 2007 legal opinion by the attorney general's office that two upstate public authorities had wrongly provided free health care benefits to board members.

More than 100 agencies were told to stop such payments, among them the MTA, where four board members paid minimum health insurance premiums while the agency paid the balance.

The MTA stopped paying the premiums.

The MTA is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in New York, serving millions who use the region's bridges, tunnels, subways, railways and buses.

In a tight economy, with the toll for the George Washington Bridge that links New York City to New Jersey costing $8, the Thruway Authority will no longer provide the freebie passes to any current or former board members, Thruway Authority spokeswoman Sarah Kampf said in a statement.

Seven such accounts had existed, she said.

Gov. David Paterson said he was unsure whether Cuomo's opinion is correct.

"We are actually checking that to see who is right," the governor said in a statement.

"And if the attorney general is right, there will be a response."

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Westchester, a frequent MTA critic, said it doesn't matter to him "whether it's legal or illegal."

"It matters that it's dopey."

He elaborated: "They're going to be coming to us with fare increases and toll increases and tax increases and a capital plan, and this is the fight they're picking before they do that?"

"Ambitious water park plan for upstate NY founders"

Associated Press

Last updated: 4:32 p.m., Wednesday, May 28, 2008

GOSHEN, N.Y. -- An ambitious plan to build a water park in upstate New York has left investors clamoring for their money after a series of troublesome delays sidelined the project.

Investors in the GoOcean Water Park and Resort in Goshen claim the park is never going to be built.

They're demanding Liliana Trafficante, the project's Manhattan founder, jettison the far-fetched plan and give back the money.

They're tired of her excuses and broken promises that a deal is in the offing.

"It was just a big song and dance," said Kelly Bigham, who loaned Trafficante $5,000 about three years ago.

Trafficante has pitched plans for a water park in New York state for a decade.

She eventually came upon the idea of building it on a 120-acre site in Orange County and announced the plans about a year ago.

Trafficante said the park would create jobs and provide housing to underprivileged children.

She said she made a $14 million offer on the land in Goshen in September but there was no contract, according to the Middletown Times Herald-Record.

"There was never any money," said Ed Arace, a partner with landowner 124 Goshen Partners who's a former Hudson Valley regional vice president of the state's Empire State Development Corp.

To help complete the deal, Trafficante said she turned to a man named "Mike Riley."

"There have been a lot of promises prior to this," Riley, 44, told the Times Herald-Record in late March.

"Now there are facts."

It turned out Riley hadn't provided Trafficante with all the facts -- including his name, she says.

Earlier that month, he pleaded guilty under his full name -- George Michael Riley -- to felony theft and fraud charges in Licking County, Ohio.

Licking County prosecutor Ken Oswalt told The Associated Press that Riley will be sentenced June 4.

He faces up to 17 1/2 years in prison.

Trafficante said she dumped Riley in April after she learned about his background.

But she continued to pursue a new location for the park on a 70-acre property in St. Clairsville, Ohio, near the West Virginia border, even though it was Riley who recommended the land.

At Riley's prompting, Trafficante said she signed a contract to the buy the land for $8 million without ever seeing the site or meeting with the owners, the Fatula family.

Local real estate agents say the land is not worth anywhere near that amount.

Riley told the AP he never recommended the Ohio land to Trafficante.

Riley said he was unaware of any contract she signed with the Fatulas.

He did acknowledge that he knew the Fatulas.

Riley said he was never paid for the work he did for Trafficante.

"They want to point a finger but they're not going to point it at me," he said.

Riley's lawyer, Sam Shamansky, said he didn't know anything about his client's relationship with Trafficante.

Trafficante said Ashton Fatula, 18, handled much of the negotiation.

Fatula says Trafficante got duped but he claims he did nothing wrong.

"The piece of property she is buying obviously is not worth $8 million, but she had the time to do her due diligence," Fatula told the Times Herald-Record.

He said the land might be worth $2 million or $3 million.

Trafficante for the moment says she has abandoned the Ohio deal.

Trafficante claims a handful of legitimate investors in GoOcean have put up about $800,000, according to the Times Herald-Record.

But the total of all claims and judgments against her and her businesses runs into the millions of dollars.

She told the AP that a total of $4.8 million had been invested in the project.

Only about $300,000 of that money remains, Trafficante said.

She said $250,000 was in an escrow account in Ohio.

Trafficante says she has a hedge fund in Utah that has promised $30 million in funding for the water park.

Trafficante says she'll repay investors once the hedge fund fronts the money.

She declined to name the hedge fund.

Trafficante says she has also hired a security specialist from Louisiana who's working pro bono to help her avoid scam artists.

"I was really naive when I first got into it," she told the AP.

"I was inexperienced."

In a conference call earlier this month, Trafficante made repeated promises to return investors' money and blamed Riley and others for stalling the project.

"GoOcean is like a cat," she told investors.

"It has nine lives and this is life number nine."

Two people who were on the conference call told the AP they had not received any money yet.

Trafficante says they'll get their money back.

She promises.

"I just want to make a public apology to all the investors who put in real money and let them know it has always been my intention to pay them back and to build this park and I am 100 percent positive that this will happen in the near future."

--------

On the Net:

GoOcean: http://www.goocean.com/

"Veterans groups march on Capitol - Outstanding work, health issues prompt veterans to demand swift action"

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, May 29, 2008

ALBANY -- With scores of wounded men and women returning from combat, New York veterans groups will march on the state Capitol today to demand action on what they say are outstanding health and work issues.

Members of the New York State Council of Veterans Organizations, which represents 35 groups across New York, will rally at 11 a.m. for improved health care, economic opportunities for disabled veterans and more.

It marks the first time in years veterans have made a public political statement, said council president Ed Bloch, an 84-year-old ex-Marine.

Too much is at stake to remain apolitical, said members.

"I hope we will be able to say we are reuniting veterans groups around a formal agenda we all support," said Bloch, a member of Veterans for Peace.

Of paramount concern, veterans say, is the state's failure to test returning service members for war-related toxins, including depleted uranium.

A 2006 state law requires combat veterans be tested for toxin exposure and records kept, but the effort is stalled because state leaders have yet to appoint a special panel.

Veterans also want the Assembly to pass a bill mandating state agencies to contract a certain number of businesses owned by disabled veterans.

It would help veterans' groups like Uncle Sam's House in Troy bid directly for state projects, rather than go through the New York State Industries for the Disabled.

Veterans' issues have suffered since Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, D-Manhattan, became chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee last year, Bloch's group said in a memo.

Espaillat responded that the committee met Wednesday to discuss some of the council's key issues and plans to convene again Tuesday.

He said he was proud to have helped pass veterans legislation, including a tuition program signed into law in January that awards combat veterans money for education.

"It would be sad to think that someone wants to make veterans affairs a partisan issue," he said.

But Joe Franklin, chairman of the National Disabled Veteran Business Council, said the rally is about the future of the thousands of military members coming home physically or psychologically wounded.

"How many veterans' rallies do you hear of?" Franklin said.

"We're not known as being malcontents."

"It really took something catastrophic to get us together."

AND WHILE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ...

"10 states act to stop teacher sex abuse - 10 states act to protect students, punish teachers who engage in sexual misconduct"

By ROBERT TANNER, Associated Press

Last updated: 3:22 p.m., Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ten states have taken action in recent months to crack down on sexually abusive teachers following a stream of arrests and reports that have documented the problem of educators victimizing students.

Governors, state education officials and lawmakers have led the push for new measures, which include tougher penalties for teachers who abuse students, punishment for administrators who fail to properly oversee their faculty, and an effort to train an entire state's corps of teachers to recognize potential abusers in their midst.

At least four more states are still considering legislation.

They are focusing on an increasingly undeniable phenomenon: While the vast majority of America's roughly 3 million public school teachers are committed professionals, a disturbing number have engaged in sexual misconduct.

When faced with evidence of abuse, administrators sometimes fail to let others know about it, and legal loopholes let some offenders stay in the classroom.

"Too often in the past, we as adults have failed our children," Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said when he signed a new law last month.

"Today with this legislation, hopefully, we begin earning back their trust."

The measure passed without a single no vote.

Kentucky lawmakers originally drafted a measure aimed at abusive teachers, with the final legislation written broadly to encompass priests, teachers and anyone in authority over someone younger than 18.

Besides increasing penalties for abusers and giving prosecutors more time to bring charges, the Kentucky law also takes aim at officials who don't report abuse to authorities.

A nationwide Associated Press investigation, published in October, found 2,570 educators lost their teaching credentials or were otherwise sanctioned from 2001 through 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Experts who track sexual abuse say the problem is even bigger than those numbers suggest.

Underreporting is common, they say, because victims often are ostracized and accusations are difficult to prove.

The AP series inspired some of the tougher measures, including Utah's legislation to permanently revoke the licenses of sexually abusive teachers and a new Maine law to share information about teachers disciplined for any reason, including sexual misconduct, with other states.

A New York lawmaker cited the AP reports when he rallied support to overturn budget cuts that would have sharply reduced funds for investigators who examine abuse claims in school.

Meanwhile, stories on teacher misconduct by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and The Columbus Dispatch sparked action in Florida and Ohio.

New laws also were passed in Kansas, Minnesota and Virginia, while measures are still being considered in California, Colorado, Delaware and Massachusetts.

New York and South Carolina began or expanded programs targeting the problem.

Proposals failed to win legislative approval in Indiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Washington state and West Virginia.

The various measures demonstrate the many loopholes that have allowed abusive teachers to remain in the classroom, including:

-- Backroom deals.

Florida's new ethics law for teachers bars school districts from entering into confidential agreements with teachers who get in trouble.

Such deals crop up around the country, allowing schools to remove a problem teacher but letting that educator quietly move on to another district or state.

-- Failing to report.

Kentucky's law raised the stakes for officials who fail to report allegations of abuse, bringing 90 days in jail for a first offense and up to five years in prison for repeat violations.

-- Problem teachers returning to the classroom.

Colorado would require any teacher who lost a license for sexual misconduct to promise never to teach again.

The measure awaits Gov. Bill Ritter's signature.

Virginia closed a gap that made it possible for teachers who abuse students to be hired by another school district in the time between when they are fired and when the state Education Department is notified.

In New York state, Senate Education Committee Chairman Stephen Saland blasted former Gov. Eliot Spitzer for seeking to cut the investigative unit's $1 million budget in half, accusing Spitzer of declaring "open season on children" for sex predators in schools.

He read passages from AP stories that showed the number of "moral conduct" accusations against teachers, administrators and aides had doubled in five years.

The legislature rejected the cuts and instead increased funding to $1.6 million.

That will allow for hiring eight more investigators and attorneys to tackle more than 800 pending cases, most of them involving sex with students.

"This will move these people out of the classroom environment more quickly," Saland said.

"It's money well spent."

"In fact, it's a bargain."

South Carolina looked beyond punishment, instead creating a statewide training program that aims to instruct 10,000 teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, coaches and school nurses on how to prevent, identify and report cases of abuse.

Beginning this fall, at least one educator from each of the state's 85 school districts will undergo 6 1/2 hours of training by Darkness to Light, a Charleston-based nonprofit organization.

Those educators, in turn, will train at least 20 percent of educators in their district.

The state has 50,000 educators.

The training will focus not only on stopping sexual predators but on preventing simply inappropriate relationships, said schools Superintendent Jim Rex.

Sometimes young, naive teachers do improper things, with no ill will toward the student, and get into trouble, such as texting students' cell phones or giving them a ride home.

"So much of what schools do is based on trust."

"Not only must kids trust their teachers, but parents have to trust those teachers too," Rex said.

"And schools have to earn that trust each and every day."

"NY transit agency rescinds perk for ex-board members"

By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:52 p.m., Thursday, May 29, 2008

NEW YORK -- The free ride is over for Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board members, who for decades have enjoyed lifetime passes for the agency's mass-transit system, bridges and tunnels.

Under pressure from state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the nation's largest mass-transit agency said Thursday it planned to rescind former board members' free-travel perks and restrict current members to using the privilege only for official business.

The announcement came as Cuomo cracked down on a long-standing tradition of providing free E-ZPasses -- electronic toll-payment systems -- for board members at the MTA and various other public agencies.

State Thruway Authority board members agreed Wednesday to stop using their free E-ZPasses.

"I think it's very important that we say to government on all levels, 'This is a new day in New York, and public integrity is important ... and also the public perception,'" Cuomo said at a news conference.

The perk for MTA board members -- many of them multimillionaires -- has drawn stiff criticism at a time when many commuters are absorbing toll and transit-fare increases that took effect in March.

MTA board members' free E-ZPasses work only on the MTA's own nine bridges and tunnels, where tolls are as high as $10 round-trip, spokesman Jeremy Soffin said.

Until now, the unpaid board members also have ridden free on the agency's subways, buses and Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road commuter trains.

It's unclear how much the perk has cost in free fares and tolls, Soffin said.

All but one of the 22 current board members and 34 ex-members have E-ZPasses, Soffin said.

Some have more than one, such as former MTA Chairman Peter S. Kalikow, a real estate developer and car collector with eight of the passes.

He plans to turn them in, saying he has always abided by the law, spokesman Martin J. McLaughlin said.

The perks date at least to the 1950s, Soffin said.

But after the Daily News reported on the practice Tuesday, Cuomo's office told the MTA and Thruway Authority to end it, citing legislation specifying that the agencies' board members serve "without salary or other compensation."

"Just because it's been going on for a long time doesn't make it right," the attorney general said Thursday.

MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger told The New York Times Wednesday that the agency would ask a court to decide whether the travel perks amounted to compensation.

But the agency concluded Thursday that "we wanted to just make a policy change," Soffin said.

Board members are expected to give it formal consideration at a meeting next month.

The plan would let current board members keep using their E-ZPasses and fare privileges for "actual and necessary expenses."

Such costs would not be considered compensation, Cuomo said.

The MTA doesn't plan to seek reimbursements for the perks used so far, Soffin said.

Cuomo has made a point of going after questionable government freebies during his 16 months in office.

He is probing possible pension fraud at school districts and local governments across the state, saying some have improperly let outside consultants qualify for state pensions.

He also has told the MTA and about 100 other agencies to stop giving board members a break on health care benefits.

The MTA had been paying the bulk of health insurance premiums for four board members, but it has stopped doing so.

The agency's vast transit system carries more than 8.2 million riders on an average weekday.

More than 300 million vehicles a year use its bridges and tunnels, which include the Triborough and Verrazano-Narrows bridges and the Brooklyn Battery and Queens Midtown tunnels.

------

Associated Press Writer Michael Gormley in Albany contributed to this report.

"Thousands of NY small businesses to get insurance refunds"

Associated Press

Last updated: 3:42 p.m., Thursday, May 29, 2008

ALBANY -- Nearly 37,000 small businesses in New York City, Long Island and the northern suburbs will share $50 million that Oxford Health Insurance has agreed to refund to settle state claims it overcharged for policies in 2006.

The settlement affects policy holders of Oxford's small group Freedom Plan Direct, Freedom Plan Metro and Freedom Plan EPO plans.

State officials say refunds will average $1,360 per business.

State Insurance Department Superintendent Eric Dinallo says the $50 million refund underscores the need for legislation that would allow the agency to approve rates before insurers raise them.

He says the current system -- in place since 1996 -- allows insurance regulators to review increased rates only after they take effect.

"Binghamton judge to step down after misconduct allegations"

Associated Press

Last updated: 12:52 p.m., Thursday, May 29, 2008

ALBANY -- A part-time Binghamton city judge who was charged with allowing his law partners to practice in his court is leaving office.

Under a deal reached with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, Judge Robert Murphy agreed to step down from the bench when his term expires on June 14 and not seek or accept reappointment as a city judge.

Last June, the commission moved to discipline Murphy -- a partner in the law firm of Pope, Tait & Murphy -- after finding that he allowed partners and associates to practice law in the city court and in some cases to appear before him.

One of the firm's members, Alan Pope, was the commission's chairman and resigned from that post in May 2006, when the investigation of Murphy started.

"Proposal for burning ban under fire - Rensselaer County Legislature GOP seeks to halt statewide prohibition"

By KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, May 29, 2008

TROY -- The Rensselaer County Legislature Republican majority wants to stop a state effort to ban the open burning of brush and debris in rural communities, fearing it would be a financial burden for towns and farmers.

"We believe this law would be overly restrictive for rural residents and in particular be a real negative for farmers and agricultural business."

"The state should allow the current law to remain in place," Legislator Lester Goodermote, R-Hoosick Falls, said in a statement.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed making the ban on open burning statewide.

Since 1972, communities with a population of 20,000 or more have had to adhere to this rule.

"This new law would mean new expenses for small town and village governments."

"Unfortunately, those costs would be passed down to local property taxpayers," Legislator Martin Reid, R-Sand Lake, chairman of the Local Government Committee, said in a statement.

An expansion of the burning ban would affect rural towns throughout the Capital Region.

The state's proposed ban permits some outdoor burning.

Fires allowed include camp fires, training exercises, specialized burning to protect crops from frostbite and burning of agricultural wastes and some other cases.

The expanded ban is designed to reduce pollution and limit wildfires, according to the DEC, which plans hearings from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 5 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, June 25, at DEC headquarters, 625 Broadway, Albany.

County legislators want the public to voice its opposition at the hearing.

The measure is a DEC rule change and does not require approval of the state Legislature.

The county legislators said open burning should continue for brush, leaves and untreated wood and paper products.

"For Bruno, the race is on ... almost - Senate majority leader hasn't confirmed his plans publicly, but spokesman says announcement in works"

By IRENE JAY LIU, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, May 30, 2008

ALBANY -- Though he's been publicly coy about his re-election plans, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno soon will announce his intent to run again, a spokesman said Thursday.

Behind the scenes, the Brunswick Republican already is quietly gearing up for a run.

Bruno caused a stir in the Capitol when he refused to say in an interview published Tuesday in "On Board," a newsletter of the New York State School Boards Association, whether he was running for reelection in the fall.

Bruno was similarly noncommittal on Thursday.

Asked whether he would run, Bruno told a reporter, "You gonna keep your job tomorrow?"

"Are you?"

"Are you going to be working next week?"

When pressed by another reporter, he said:

"Everything is timely, time is everything in this business."

Later in the day, Bruno spokesman Kris Thompson confirmed that petitions with Bruno's name had been printed and were distributed to volunteers at a meeting of the Rensselaer County Republican Party on Wednesday.

Petitions also will be distributed in Saratoga County.

An announcement about re-election will be made soon, Thompson said, but "there's a time and place for announcements like this."

"It's about governing, not politics."

Bruno made his comments after giving a speech at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, which held a forum on gubernatorial succession and the powers of the lieutenant governor.

In his prepared remarks, Bruno expressed confidence in the existing system of succession.

In the case of a vacancy in the position of lieutenant governor, Bruno, as temporary president and majority leader, performs the duties of lieutenant governor, which may include casting tie-breaking votes in the Senate.

While he has not yet tested the tie-breaking vote provision, and Senate Democrats have vowed to legally challenge any attempt to do so, Bruno said he liked the idea of it.

"I'm enjoying two votes," he said with a smile.

"There probably should have been two paychecks."

"I'm only kidding."

"Former NY official, husband plead guilty"

Associated Press

Last updated: 4:12 p.m., Friday, May 30, 2008

NEW YORK -- A Staten Island couple has pleaded guilty to charges that the wife used her position as a state official to steer a contract to a company where her husband had connections.

James and Johanna "Jody" Hall pleaded guilty to scheme to defraud Friday in exchange for probation.

They also must repay $8,000 they got for fixing the contract bidding.

The 43-year-old Johanna Hall was special deputy superintendent of the New York Liquidation Bureau.

The bureau takes over financially troubled insurance companies and tries to fix them, or distributes bankrupt companies' assets to creditors.

James Hall, a 42-year-old architectural designer, helped steer a state contract in 2006 to MB Shapes and Forms.

That company is not charged with any crime.

Johanna Hall also has pleaded guilty to grand larceny.

She must repay $3,671 to the bureau for travel expenses and her babysitter's salary.

DAVID PATERSON COMES ACROSS AS A VERY WEAK AND INEFFECTUAL GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ...

"Paterson still has test to pass"

By FRED LeBRUN, staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, May 25, 2008

David Paterson has been our esteemed governor now for three months, and it's time to start asking that one hard question.

Granted, he swept into office unexpectedly and at the 11th hour in the state budget-making process, under shocking circumstances and with virtually no preparation, agenda or even much of a clue.

Regardless, this is New York, and the state motto is adapt or die.

Or at least it should be.

So.

Is Paterson up to the job?

Thus far the answer is yes and no, and more no than yes.

He's certainly a quantum leap ahead of his predecessor in terms of winning personality and style.

The current governor is witty, self-deprecating, collegial, warm and friendly, and gets along great with friend and foe.

He knows how to get even disagreeable sorts to work together.

Effective governance is always a matter of compromise and consensus, a fundamental Eliot Spitzer chose to deny.

Paterson is a master at it, and so his ability to get things done is far greater than Spitzer's and not to be minimized.

But his advantage in style, in this instance, is merely potential in a bottle.

On substance, he is so far a disappointment.

Paterson has quietly let Spitzer's entirely laudable reform goals and agenda slip into oblivion with hardly a nod.

If anything, he's taken a strong step backward by embracing the outrageous pre-Spitzer campaign contribution limit of $55,000 per person.

That clearly marks him as a dear friend of special interests.

It may be true that Spitzer's personal limit of $10,000 per contribution was a joke because he was at the same time advocating bundling that netted many times that from contributors.

Still, the symbolic value of self-imposed limits was bringing badly needed pressure for change.

Paterson, who's already declared he'll run for his own full term the next time around, is sending a strange message in that he seems to be more concerned with getting re-elected than advancing a public policy agenda, which he has so far failed to do.

According to a Siena poll made public last week, 35 percent of New Yorkers still don't know what to make of David Paterson.

I suspect that is a view shared by at least an equal percentage of those in government and politics who work with and around his evolving administration.

"David Paterson," wryly observed one lobster-backed Capitol veteran who's seen a lot of governors and administrations come and go, "is a nice guy."

The individual did not elaborate, which is damning with faint praise indeed.

Paterson hasn't advanced much of an agenda, and he has not stuck his neck out for any particular issue or bill that would help to define what he expects, or what he won't tolerate.

Although there are two issues on the immediate horizon that should have an enormous impact on how the public perceives him and go a long way to answering the very real questions in the air at the moment over his leadership abilities: economic development and tax reform.

The most anticipated report of this political season is the one by the Commission on Property Tax Relief, chaired by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, which will offer a plan to cap local property taxes.

It was due to be made public last week but won't come out until June.

The issue is a live grenade politically.

Suozzi has already forecast to some extent the punch that's coming.

We can expect recommendations that will include an actual cap on property taxes, a "circuit breaker" that is triggered when taxes exceed a certain percentage of a person's income, and relief from state mandates for local governments.

All of these recommendations will come with a price that has to be paid from another source.

As other states have shown us, a tax cap offers no guarantee of much actual relief.

But the public is being encouraged to clamor for it, just as the teachers unions are gearing themselves to fight it hard.

The unions see the tax cap as an infringement on local control and financing of school districts, and there are plenty of examples from around the country to prove the point.

So which way will the governor go, and how strongly?

His leadership will make all the difference in how we define property tax relief in this state.

Just as the lack of leadership will be quite apparent as well.

This is one he can't duck.

Upstate development got a genuine burst of inspiration when Eliot Spitzer appointed Dan Gundersen as upstate economic development czar, and pledged $1 billion just for upstate-identified projects.

Paterson is on the cusp of undercutting significant upstate progress by reverting to a downstate-oriented Empire State Development Corp.

Already the $1 billion pledged upstate has eroded to $700 million.

Losing Buffalo-based Dan Gundersen and upstate decision-making for upstate problems would be disastrous, in short order.

Regrettably it seems Paterson is orienting himself to what he knows, downstate, and he's got to fight that.

Again, it's a matter of sending the wrong message, which is just as tangible and important as style and substance in getting the job done -- and therefore getting re-elected.

Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.

"Another State Police suicide - Sources say note left by forensic scientist expressed concern about investigation"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer, Albany, New York Times nion

First published: Saturday, May 24, 2008

ALBANY -- A longtime forensic scientist for the State Police killed himself Friday, marking the second time in less than 10 days that someone connected to the agency has committed suicide.

Garry L. Veeder, 58, of Voorheesville was found dead by hanging in a garage at his home on Scotchpine Drive, authorities said.

His body was discovered by a relative, police sources said.

Veeder worked for the State Police for more than 30 years.

He had recently submitted papers for his retirement, which was to take effect May 30, according to the state comptroller's office.

Veeder had been using leave time since May 7, which was the last day he worked at the laboratory.

A State Police spokesman declined comment on a note Veeder left inside his home.

A person familiar with the contents of the note said Veeder wrote that he was concerned about being targeted in an ongoing internal affairs investigation regarding the handling of evidence in a high-profile case.

"The State Police will confirm that it is currently conducting an investigation resulting from a recently conducted audit of protocols, policies and procedures at the forensic laboratory," said Lt. Glenn Miner, an agency spokesman.

The audit was related to a routine accreditation audit of the forensics unit and is not connected to an ongoing investigation of the State Police by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, according to State Police sources.

"This unfortunate tragedy does not have any relationship at all to the pending investigation by the office of the attorney general," Miner said.

State Police are handling the suicide investigation.

On May 15, retired State Police Inspector Gary Berwick, formerly head of Gov. George Pataki's security detail, killed himself in the garage of his Orange County home.

Berwick, 48, killed himself at a time when Cuomo is investigating allegations by unnamed state lawmakers that the State Police may have had a "renegade unit" that committed acts of political espionage.

Berwick was expected to be interviewed by Cuomo's investigators, although there are no allegations he had committed any wrongdoing.

Several current and former high ranking State Police officials and Pataki have said the allegations are unfounded and that leaks in Cuomo's investigation have unfairly tarnished the agency.

In April, another State Police official, Lt. Joseph Banish, a 13-year veteran, was found dead at his Colonie home.

Banish's death was ruled a suicide.

He was assigned to a traffic division at State Police headquarters in Albany and his suicide came after he was notified he could face discipline for an inappropriate relationship with a woman at the State Police academy, according to The Associated Press.

AND FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF "YEAH, RIGHT, REPUBLICANS, WE'RE SICK OF YOUR CRAPOLA", WE HAVE ...

"Senate GOP agrees to settlement payout"

By JAMES ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 1:57 p.m., Saturday, May 31, 2008

A suit against Senate Republicans for promoting themselves on a someone else's copywritten product was settled with the plaintiff, Student Lifeline Inc., getting $413,500, according to court documents.

The Nassau County company had brought a number of actions against all the Senate Republicans three years ago for allegedly misusing one of its $5 products - booklets meant to help authorities locate a kidnapped or lost child - replacing a copyright and logo with the picture and names of the politicians involved.

The kits were handed out at schools with the images of the GOP senators implanted, triggering a series of lawsuits starting in December 2004 in U.S. District Court.

The litigation named at least 29 senators, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno gave videotaped testimony in the case.

Richard Signarino, Student Lifeline's founder, said the fight was resolved in court-ordered mediation last October.

"It was a last-ditch effort before trial," he said.

The deal hammered out: A total of $295,000 paid Student Lifeline and an order for $118,500 in the company's safety coloring books.

Plus the doctored kits had to be recalled or destroyed, Signarino said.

A Senate spokesman had called the litigation frivolous.

"While we were confident the law was on our side, this lawsuit had become time-consuming, and therefore it was settled last year," said Scott Reif, a Bruno spokesman.

"There was no admission of any wrongdoing on anyone's part."

"If it was frivolous, why did they offer anything?" Signarino said.

He said he would have settled for less years ago.

Six lawyers from the Attorney General's office helped settle the matter, he said.

A spokesman confirmed the settlement.

One part of the stipulation, said Signarino, required the tapes of Bruno, which had been sealed under court order, to be returned to the defendants.

"I guess with an election coming up, I guess they didn't want this (hanging) around," Signarino said.

"AMD awaits zoning decision - Company and Malta working to reach agreement on regulations for tech campus"

By LARRY RULISON, Business writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, May 31, 2008

MALTA -- Town of Malta officials are still working to set the ground rules for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s $3.2 billion computer chip factory planned for the town.

Those rules are governed by a zoning law the Town Board passed in 2004 known as a Planned Development District that outlines the regulations governing the use of the Luther Forest Technology Campus, where AMD is planning to build.

AMD came to the Town Board earlier this year seeking changes to the law.

For instance, the existing law says that Luther Forest can be home to four chip fabs, each a maximum of 800,000 square feet.

AMD plans to build up to three fabs, each a maximum of 980,000 square feet.

Because the industry uses toxic chemicals to make chips, the town's zoning law includes a variety of environmental safeguards and requirements.

AMD is requesting some be changed either because they are too vague or aren't practical for its business.

"We are continuing to work with local officials on regulatory process," said AMD spokesman Travis Bullard.

"The PDD (law) is close to being complete."

Malta Town Supervisor Paul Sausville says the board is working very hard on making sure the PDD had strong environmental provisions.

"That's one of the most important issues," Sausville said.

"We promised our residents that there would be adequate environmental oversight and controls."

"We don't want to break that promise."

Sausville said the town is consulting with the state Department of Environmental Conservation on environmental oversight options.

Sausville said there is no deadline to vote on a new PDD law.

He also noted that AMD is known for its environmental practices.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave AMD its Climate Protection Award.

"They're environmental leaders as well," Sausville said.

"We think there is a good matchup here.'

AMD is also about to submit a final environmental impact statement to the Town Board.

Although AMD has not yet officially committed to the project, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company has been trying to get town approvals in place so that it can get a building permit by the end of the year.

New York state's $1.2 billion incentive package to AMD stipulates that the company must decide to build by July 2009.

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.

"6-figure club for school retirees - Many administrators with pensions of $100,000 or more collect lucrative pay when they fill jobs as double-dippers"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, June 1, 2008

ALBANY -- Almost 700 retired public educators in New York are receiving at least $100,000 annually in pensions, and many more than double their income by returning to work for school districts.

The 690 school retirees join 899 state and local government workers in the six-figure state pension club.

But unlike other government workers, these former school employees find a high demand for their experience, fueled by a shortage of certified teachers and administrators in New York state.

So many return to the public sector.

"I've probably gotten three phone calls in the last three weeks," said Michael J. Johnson, who retired two years ago at age 55 as superintendent of the Averill Park school district.

Since last July, Johnson has been a $500-per-day interim assistant superintendent at Mohonasen school district in Rotterdam.

He expects to be employed as an administrator somewhere in the Capital Region when his current stint ends in a few weeks.

With area districts trying to cope with at least eight vacancies in the head offices, he stands a good chance, area recruiters say.

"It's a great situation for a retiree like myself," Johnson said.

His roughly $100,000 income from Mohonasen, depending on how many days he ends up working, is on top of the $105,826 he's due every year from the Teachers' Retirement System after building up more than 30 years of service credits.

He is far from the system's top pensioner.

That distinction goes to another double dipper: James Hunderfund.

He receives $316,245 annually since retiring as superintendent of the Commack school district on Long Island two years ago.

He soon returned to the school administration business first as an interim superintendent and now as permanent superintendent of the Malverne school district.

His pay is $1,000 a day.

For retirees like Johnson who are younger than 65 years old, employers must get a waiver from the state Department of Education to pay them more than $30,000.

The state agency hands out more than 400 waivers every year, although a freeze was imposed May 22 because of concerns about abuses.

Retirees age 65 or older can be paid any sum and still collect their pensions.

Many on the list of top pensioners either have a waiver or are working after age 65 to augment their already sizable pensions.

Most of the big pensioners are from Long Island districts where salaries are much higher.

One retiree, former Roslyn school district superintendent Frank A. Tassone Jr., receives his annual $173,495 pension in prison after being convicted of stealing $2.2 million from the school district.

A few upstaters are high on the pension list, including former Saratoga Springs superintendent John MacFadden, with a pension of $139,547.

He retired last summer after 38 years with the district and received unsolicited inquiries to come back to work.

"I've had calls right out of the box: Would I be willing to consider these things?"

"I said no, I retired to take a rest," he said.

"The jobs go begging."

Thomas Rogers, executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said districts are making good use of retired professionals.

"I can understand why the public would have a reaction to it because the numbers are large and folks are concerned about taxes, but people have to realize that a school district is going to have to have a superintendent no matter who they are," he said.

"When they hire a retiree they don't have the benefits cost, and often the retirees will work at less than market rates because they know they have a pension to fall back on."

"... They create a pool of highly skilled temp workers."

Johnson said he figured out his $500 per day fee based on the going rate for a seasoned administrator upstate.

He said he offered Mohonasen a person who could hit the ground running while its permanent appointee is off on a one-year maternity leave.

"It's not like somebody is just handing you $500," Johnson said.

"I probably work 10 hours a day and I work every weekend."

Andrew Nolte, 59, of Saratoga Springs, retired in 2006 as the labor relations and contract specialist for the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Essex BOCES.

He quickly returned to the BOCES at $15,000 every six months because he realized he wasn't ready to cut loose and there was a need for his expertise.

"They're saving $50,000 to $60,000," Nolte said.

His pension, calculated at $100,201, put him on the six-figure list.

However, he doesn't collect the full amount, having chosen an option to accept less, $91,600 annually, so his survivors can collect his pension if he dies.

He said he likes some of the legislation proposed to clamp down on double-dipping in order to set some boundaries.

Bills in the Assembly and Senate would sharply reduce what retirees could be paid.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and other politicians criticize the school administration business as too clubby.

"It's a closed shop," said Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre.

The top pensioner who isn't a superintendent is Harold N. Langlitz, whose benefit is $165,695.

He is the former executive director of the Teachers' Retirement System.

The Delmar resident, now 83, retired in 1995, with 45 years of service credit as a teacher and a retirement system employee.

He had no comment.

His pension was 63 percent as large as that of his predecessor, George Philip, who tops the list of pensioners in the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System at $261,037.

Langlitz chose to keep his pension with the Teachers' Retirement System; Philip, who retired last year, has his pension handled by the regular state system.

Some retirees start new careers.

Former Schenectady superintendent John Falco, who retired two years ago at age 57, is on the Teachers' Retirement System list with a pension of $113,212.

He now runs a program at the College of Saint Rose to create the next generation of school leaders.

"I left Schenectady one day and started working for the college the next," he said.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

"Experts say cranes lack proper testing - Structure that collapsed on Manhattan job may have had past problems"

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press

First published: Sunday, June 1, 2008

NEW YORK -- The towering cranes that build America's skyscrapers are often not properly inspected for wear, fatigue and other potentially dangerous structural problems, several construction safety experts said following a deadly accident.

Two construction workers died Friday when the huge cab of a 200-foot-high construction crane popped off its mast and plummeted onto a Manhattan street, shearing off part of an apartment building on the way down.

Investigators probing the accident have focused on a possible defect in the turntable that connected the cab to the crane's tower.

Acting Building Commissioner Robert LiMandri said a weld in the mechanism appeared to have failed.

He said forensic experts were examining the break and tracking maintenance records on the turntable, which was part of an aging crane made by the defunct company Kodiak that had been in service since 1984.

Just why the weld came apart was unclear, but several safety inspectors who spoke with The Associated Press Saturday expressed dismay -- but not surprise -- that the problem hadn't been uncovered during safety checks.

These experts, who included crane inspectors and engineers, said construction workers handling the giant machines often lack the expertise to spot structural problems and contractors routinely skip much-needed examinations for wear-and-tear.

Government inspectors are often unqualified to do the type of testing required to ensure structural integrity, they said.

"Their knowledge is fairly limited, along with their education," said Greg Teslia, president of Crane Safety & Inspections Inc. in Coral Springs, Fla.

"You cannot take a one-week course at some facility and all of a sudden say that you are a crane inspector, and that's what I think is happening."

A thorough inspection of the crane's turntable should have been routine, and included a check on any recent repair welds, Teslia said.

City officials have been unable to say whether such an inspection was performed.

Jeff York, a crane safety consultant in Hayward, Calif., said there are many of things that can go wrong with a crane as it ages.

Bolts can loosen and stretch.

Cracks can develop.

Most of these things can be detected, but he said those checks are sometimes performed poorly, or not done at all.

"There is no oversight for this type of work."

"There are people who are rubber-stamping this stuff," he said.

Construction companies, he said, should hire their own, independent experts to asses a crane's structural integrity.

"A lot of this stuff is not visible to the untrained eye."

"Sometimes it's not even visible to the trained eye."

"You need to know the history of the crane," York said.

"Typically, when you climb a crane and are checking a crane, you check every bolt on the crane."

"You check every last inch on the crane."

"It is an all-day job ... sometimes a day and a half."

Crane accidents aren't only a New York problem.

A section of a crane collapsed in Miami in March, killing two workers and smashing a home.

A construction worker died in Annapolis, Md., in April after a section of a crane came lose as it was being dismantled.

A crane collapse that crushed buildings and killed a man in Bellevue, Wash., in late 2006 prompted an overhaul of that state's safety regulations.

The accident in New York came just 2 months after another crane collapsed in midtown Manhattan, killing seven people.

The city building commissioner convened an emergency meeting of some 80 area construction executives Saturday to talk about crane safety.

The meeting was closed to the public, but LiMandri emerged afterward and pledged to get to the bottom of the accident.

He declined to answer most questions about the investigation, but acknowledged that authorities were checking whether there were been problems with the same crane turntable in the past.

The New York Times reported Saturday investigators suspected that the same turntable may have been removed from a crane owned by the same company last year after it was damaged on the job.

Investigators were trying to determine whether the company, New York Crane and Equipment Corp., repaired the plate and then put it back into service.

Calls left at New York Crane and Equipment went unreturned Saturday.

Attempts to reach the company's owner were unsuccessful.

A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney said a prosecutor has been assigned to the investigation, as is routine for all probes of fatal construction accidents.

"Paterson mailing called 'mistake' - Event governor's wife sent invitations to on state letterhead canceled"

By IRENE JAY LIU, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, May 31, 2008

ALBANY -- First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson stumbled in her first foray into the fight for the Senate majority, mixing politics and governance by putting a fundraiser invitation on state letterhead.

Paige Paterson was scheduled to headline a June 24 Manhattan fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidate and family friend Don Barber, who is running against Sen. James Seward in the 51st Senate District.

Barber is currently Caroline Town Supervisor in Tompkins County, a businessman, and a farmer.

In the invitation, Paige Paterson said, in part:

"This is the kind of leadership we need in New York."

"I know you will agree with me that our 'blue' state should be led by a Democratic Senate, and Don's campaign will help us achieve that goal."

Printing the invitation on state letterhead was "absolutely something that should not have happened."

"And the event has been canceled," said Erin Duggan, a spokeswoman for Gov. David Paterson.

"It was an honest mistake," she added.

According to Duggan, the Barber campaign had asked Paige Paterson to do a letter for the event, and then called the office for a sheet of state stationary.

A junior staffer unwittingly complied, and the campaign printed copies of the letter on its own, so no state resources were used except the one sheet of paper.

Still, Duggan emphasized it should not have happened.

"We hold the first lady's office to similar standards as the governor's office even though she's not a state employee or an elected official."

The event will be rescheduled, and new invitations will be printed.

Besides the issue of the state letterhead, the invitation is notable in its overtly political tone.

So far, Paterson has stayed out of the public fight for the Senate, in which Republicans are defending their 32-30 majority.

But it isn't clear whether that will continue once the legislative session is over.

Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno heralded Paterson's understanding of "partnership" and said that Paterson "gets pressure to be more political as the leader of the party."

The Barber event, had it gone forward, would have included on its attendee list state Democratic Chair June O'Neill, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, and a number of Democratic senators.

While the Barber race is not currently considered in the top tier of competitive Senate races, the attendee list indicates there is high-level party interest in it.

Irene Jay Liu can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at iliu@timesunion.com.

"Getting tough on public corruption - Prosecutor handling Spitzer case says he's cracking down on 'bad actors'"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, June 4, 2008

ALBANY -- The federal prosecutor investigating Albany's "bad actors" delivered a sobering speech about abuse of state resources Tuesday, warning 250 lawyers and public officials that the price of violating public integrity laws is more than a reputation.

"Lately there seems to be much attention paid on bad actors ... exploiting the systems that lack transparency or stretching already too-flexible conflict of interest rules beyond the breaking point," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Michael Garcia said.

Garcia is probing member-item thefts as well as Gov. Eliot Spitzer's alleged patronage of a high-priced call-girl service.

He gave the address as part of an Albany Law School Government Law Center "Excellence in Government Service" event.

The crowd had been prepared for a more upbeat address, several people said.

Instead, Garcia, 46, a graduate of Albany Law School, recounted crimes and suspected wrongdoing he's been investigating.

His address came just a few hours before he secured his second conviction from among the four people indicted for running the Emperor's Club VIP, the prostitution business linked to Spitzer's resignation.

Cecil "Katie" Suwal, 23, pleaded guilty to money laundering and prostitution conspiracy charges.

Spitzer quit in March after being identified as "Client 9" in a wiretapped conversation disclosed in the Emperor's Club indictment.

Garcia declined to discuss the potential for an indictment of Spitzer when asked by the Times Union.

Spitzer's state travel records for his trip to Washington, D.C., last February have been requested by criminal investigators, according to aides to Gov. David Paterson.

The former governor is alleged to have had a tryst during a taxpayer-paid trip to Washington the night before he met with a congressional panel Feb. 14.

He allegedly paid for the $4,300 evening with a prostitute with withdrawals from a bank account that appeared set up to get around money-laundering statutes.

In his remarks, Garcia did not specifically discuss the Emperor's Club case, but stressed that public corruption cases undermine faith in government.

He cited some of the member-item cases he's probed, noting the conviction of former Assemblyman Brian M. McLaughlin.

The Queens Democrat steered tens of thousands of dollars in member items to a nonprofit group in Flushing that was supposed to buy sports equipment for a Little League baseball team.

McLaughlin raided the organization's treasury, stole from his campaign fund, took payouts from contractors and misused $2.2 million for a variety of personal expenses, according to court and state records.

Other prosecutions, Garcia said, involve lawmakers who embezzled funds or sold their office for profit.

He lamented that he and other prosecutors get tagged with "political motivation" for the way they handle their cases.

"Politics has no place in the process," Garcia said.

Garcia told a reporter that he is getting ready for his case against Sen. Efrain Gonzalez Jr., which also entails allegations of member-item theft.

The Bronx Democrat has pleaded not guilty and a trial is set for October.

Public corruption, Garcia said, is "intolerable" at a time when families are struggling with household budgets and people are being laid off from jobs.

The event honored 30 graduates for their public service, including Robert F. Mujica Jr., who works for Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick.

Bruno is being investigated by the U.S. attorney in the Northern District.

Also honored was Kristine Hamann, Spitzer's former inspector general.

The event was underwritten by several special-interest groups and big lobbying firms, which also are major campaign donors, such as Patricia Lynch Associates and Featherstonhaugh, Wiley and Clyne.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

"NY commission calls for property tax cap"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:32 p.m., Monday, June 2, 2008

ALBANY -- A special commission on Monday recommended that New Yorkers' property taxes be capped at 4 percent a year, among other reforms.

If the Commission on Property Tax Relief's recommendations are accepted by Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature, local school taxes could be capped at either 4 percent or 120 percent of inflation, whichever is less.

That would be about half of the annual, average growth in most recent years.

A school district could exceed the cap if 55 percent of voters agree.

But if the district received more than a 5-percent increase in state aid, 60 percent of voters would have to agree to override the cap.

The Working Families Party, influential with the Democratic party that controls the Assembly and governor's office, called a tax cap "merely a gimmick."

"It neither cuts taxes for those who already can't afford them, nor promises state aid to make tax increases unnecessary," said Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party.

"We need to repeal the Pataki-era tax cuts for the wealthiest New Yorkers."

The powerful New York State United Teachers union and the state School Boards Association oppose a tax cap.

Kenneth Adams of the state Business Council said the commission's cap "offers a real chance to make New York's economy competitive again."

Even New York City schools, with little property tax income, would benefit from the commission's recommendation to eliminate two dozen mandated programs and costs created by the Legislature, but not paid for by the state.

The commission headed by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi also calls for changes to the state's STAR tax subsidy designed to lower school taxes.

He said STAR, which now costs the state $5 billion a year, has done little or nothing to slow local school spending.

"It's clear a property tax cap is essential," Suozzi said.

"You can't afford every great program."

"You have to have some fiscal discipline."

"The cap forces hard choices and discipline."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he was reviewing the report and noted that the Assembly's Democratic majority has long called for meaningful tax relief.

"Any action that we take must guarantee that schoolchildren across the state will have the resources necessary to get a quality education," Silver said.

New York's local property taxes are the highest in the nation, 79 percent above the national average.

And Suozzi said 71 percent of education cost goes to salaries and benefits.

He said per pupil spending is $18,768 a year outside New York City.

Suozzi said poor school districts that can't raise enough in local taxes would be able to turn to the state for more aid.

"You have to bring some sanity back into this process because it's low- and moderate-income people who are suffering the most," Suozzi told reporters.

The report, called preliminary, goes to Paterson Tuesday.

A final report that will take on additional areas including the state's high cost of special education and the unique fiscal problems of the state's four biggest city districts and poor rural districts.

The final report is due in December, but Suozzi said many of the proposals released Monday should be taken up by the Legislature this year.

"It's a comprehensive examination of the issue," said Elizabeth Lynam of the independent Citizens Budget Commission.

She said the proposal would improve use of STAR subsidy for the neediest taxpayers and redistribution of state funding that could make sure the districts most in need get enough state aid.

"They not only proposed a cap which is exactly what the doctor ordered, but they actually improve the cap," said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.

He noted the proposal allows a district to "bank" up to 1.5 percent of budget growth below 4 percent for use in tougher years.

McMahon says that would eliminate automatic 4 percent increases.

He also said the proposal calls for disclosure of teachers' labor contracts.

"This is a very solid proposal," he said.

"We've been getting blue ribbon reports seemingly once a decade for the 30 or 40 years on school finances."

"This is the first one that really views things from the perspective of people paying the bills."

Suozzi said testimony included the story of a man paying 15 percent of $44,000-a-year income on property taxes.

He also said a man in his 80s had to take a part-time job to pay the taxes on his family's home, but had to quit to care for his ailing wife and may now lose the home.

The cap may require more state aid beyond historic increases in the last two years and for coming years, despite projections of more than $20 billion in deficits over the next three years.

"We are saying very clearly that regardless of what happens at any other level, you cannot continue to let these school districts solve their problems by raising their property taxes above the capped amount," he said.

------

On the Net:

http://www.cptr.state.ny.us/

AND THIS IS WHAT WE ARE GETTING IN RETURN FOR THE EXORBITANT SALARIES THAT WE PAY UP HERE IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK TO THESE POWERFUL TEACHERS ...

SO IT IS MORE THAN JUST THE LOW- AND MODERATE-INCOME PEOPLE WHO ARE SUFFERING HERE ...

IT IS THE CHILDREN THEMSELVES WHO ARE THE VICTIMS OF THESE PREDATORY TEACHERS ...

THEIR POWER OVER US HAS GONE TO THEIR HEADS ...

ALONG WITH THEIR UNACCOUNTABILITY ...

THANKS TO THEIR LOBBYISTS WHO HAVE OUR NYS LEGISLATORS DANGLING FROM THEIR POCKETS LIKE SO MUCH BLING ...

And so ...

"Upstate New York teacher accused of raping student"

Associated Press

Last updated: 2:32 p.m., Monday, June 2, 2008

CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Police say an upstate New York social studies teacher is being charged with rape involving a 15-year-old female student.

Nicholas Thomas appeared in Cortland City Court Monday, charged with third-degree rape and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

He is free on $1,000 bail and due back in court June 18.

Police say the 26-year-old Thomas is a teacher at Cortland Junior-Senior High School.

Thomas was arrested Saturday after police searched his classroom.

Police say their investigation is continuing.

"Much ado, little accomplished on state issues - New governor, Senate spar as session nears end with important issues unresolved"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, June 2, 2008

ALBANY -- It took two months, but Gov. David Paterson's honeymoon with the Legislature started winding down last week -- just in time for the usual end-of-session frenzy.

On Wednesday, after he was criticized in the press for touting things like cheaper copier paper as budget reduction measures, Paterson was taking heat for what was arguably his boldest move so far: directing state agencies to recognize gay marriages performed in other states.

Republicans promptly broke their 2-month-old detente and suggested they might sue.

At a news conference Thursday, Paterson turned aggressive:

"And for those busy legislators who think I'm making an end-around, maybe they should go to the Legislature and actually do something."

It was a departure from the humorous, conciliatory tone Paterson had set after taking over for Eliot Spitzer, who battled relentlessly with Senate Republicans.

With 12 days left in this year's session, it should come as no surprise that relations are getting testy.

It's the time of year when politicians tend to spar more as they jockey for position in the usual end-of-session negotiations.

And it's the time when interest groups typically bemoan the lack of progress.

So far, the governor and lawmakers have little to show in the face of vast challenges: rising gas prices, complaints about sky-high property taxes, and Paterson's warning of billions of dollars in deficits starting next year.

But this year state government may be on the verge of a replay of the early 1990s when a recession prompted then-Gov. Mario M. Cuomo to make midyear budget cuts.

"We're watching the money not come in," said Sen. Efrain Gonzalez, D-Bronx.

After being thrust into the job in late March after Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal, Paterson admits he's had a steep learning curve.

As lieutenant governor, Paterson focused on four areas: energy policy, stem cell research, domestic violence prevention and promoting businesses owned by women and minorities.

Now, he's got dozens of balls in the air.

That's literally given the governor a headache.

Legally blind, with only limited vision in one eye, Paterson has to hold documents an inch or less from his face to read them.

All the additional reading of briefing documents, he believes, led to his brief hospitalization and surgery earlier in the month for glaucoma, which initially hit him like a bad migraine.

"The concentration that I had to make to make this adjustment, it sometimes feels overwhelming," Paterson said.

Amid that backdrop, lawmakers suggest this year won't be known for groundbreaking legislation.

Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes, last month quipped that the session "started with a bang," but added, "Let's end with a whimper and get out of town."

"Understandably, everybody gets a pass," said Michael Tobman, a New York City-based lobbyist.

So far, this year has been marked not by legislative successes but by ideas that have died in the Assembly or Senate.

Those include a congestion pricing fee to relieve traffic in midtown Manhattan and a short-lived idea to tie teacher tenure decisions to student test performance.

As for the reform platform on which Spitzer and Paterson rode into office, talk of changing campaign finance and ethics laws now is almost nonexistent.

Other areas of inaction include:

Property taxes: Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, appointed by Spitzer to study the issue, is expected next week to call for a tax cap similar to those in other states, and property tax breaks based on income.

But a cap is opposed by the powerful New York State United Teachers, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has said he's unlikely to look at one this year.

Economic development: A number of initiatives, including improvements in the way industrial development agencies use tax breaks to foster new business and revision of brownfield laws, are stalled.

On brownfields, for instance, the state has basically frozen funding on new cleanups of former industrial sites since last winter, when critics said the major tax breaks were going to lavish hotel developments in Westchester and New York City rather than depressed areas like Buffalo.

Some lawmakers believe the brownfields issue could be easily fixed if leaders and the governor were to hash it out.

"This is low-hanging fruit," said Sen. Antoine Thompson, D-Buffalo.

Energy plants: Regulations that streamline the process of siting of new power plants expired in 2003 and have yet to be renewed, even as the state's energy demands increase.

Pay hikes: Judges, commissioners, lawmakers and statewide elected officials including the governor have gone without raises since 1999.

The judiciary is particularly vocal.

Gambling: Still on hold are the development rights at Aqueduct race track and averting the closure of New York City's OTB.

Ultimately, this year may be better remembered for its scandals -- a growing investigation into public pension abuses, an inquiry into the State Police and, of course, Spitzer's exit.

Andrew Stengel, director of national election advocacy for the Brennan Center for Justice, which has called the Legislature the nation's most dysfunctional, said it's business as usual.

"This legislative session isn't surprising; ... the Assembly and the Senate have acted in a way that is unaccessible, unaccountable, not deliberative," he said.

"A lot of this is a function of the culture of the Legislature."

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

"FTC opens formal prove of Intel's microprocessor business in victory for rival AMD"

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:42 p.m., Friday, June 6, 2008

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Escalating the world's largest computer chip maker's legal woes, the Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal probe into Intel Corp.'s sales tactics, a victory for its much smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Intel disclosed Friday that it has received a subpoena from the FTC for records about Intel's microprocessor sales, which dominate the world market with a roughly 80 percent share.

The FTC's two-year investigation had been considered "informal" until that point, and Intel, which is already fighting antitrust charges in the European Union and was fined this week by antitrust regulators in South Korea, said it had been cooperating.

By opening a formal investigation, Intel said, the FTC will be able to get access to documents revealing Intel's communications with certain customers -- documents Intel couldn't voluntarily provide because of a protective order that is part of a sweeping antitrust lawsuit AMD filed in 2005 that isn't expected to go to trial until 2010.

"From our perspective, it's not a surprising event nor is there any really substantive change in the relationship we've had with the FTC," Bruce Sewell, Intel's general counsel, said in an interview.

The FTC's intensifying look at Intel's business practices is a result of AMD's long-running campaign to convince antitrust regulators around the world that its business has been hurt by Intel's aggressive tactics.

AMD also said Friday that it received a subpoena this week from the FTC -- though the company said it is not a target of the investigation.

The two companies have been fighting for years over what AMD claims is Intel's intimidation of computer makers into striking exclusive deals for the chips they use in their new machines.

AMD claims the rebates and financial incentives Intel offers to those companies for buying more Intel chips are designed to prevent AMD from gaining market share -- and that Intel threatens those manufacturers that it will retaliate if they introduce models based on AMD's chips.

AMD argues that Intel's volume discounts are sometimes so steep that AMD can't cut its own prices enough to compete without losing money on the sales.

Intel has repeatedly denied breaking any laws.

It said Friday that the sharp drop in microprocessor prices over the past seven years shows that the "evidence that this industry is fiercely competitive and working is compelling."

In an interview last week with The Associated Press, before the company received the subpoena, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini noted that Intel has been investigated by the FTC and the Department of Justice before, and he said he stands by the company's actions.

"I think there's nothing we've done that warrants further investigation by the U.S. government," Otellini said.

Should the FTC find Intel violated federal law, Intel could face severe fines, and the way the world's computer chips are bought and sold could change.

AMD said the probe helps it hold Intel accountable for sales strategies that it argues have hurt AMD's business and technology consumers.

"Intel must now answer to the Federal Trade Commission, which is the appropriate way to determine the impact of Intel practices on U.S. consumers and technology businesses," Tom McCoy, AMD's executive vice president and chief administrative officer, said in a statement.

"In every country around the world where Intel's business practices have been investigated, including the decision by South Korea this week, antitrust regulators have taken action."

Another major legal headache for Intel is the lawsuit AMD filed against it in U.S. District Court in Delaware in 2005 -- a case that could mean billions of dollars in damages if AMD wins.

The parties are now exchanging documents in the "discovery" phase of that case.

AMD's complaints have also triggered antitrust investigations in several countries outside their home U.S. market as well.

The European Union has accused Intel of paying manufacturers to delay or cancel product lines using AMD chips and selling the manufacturers its own chips below the average cost of producing them.

And on Thursday, Intel was slapped with a $25.4 million fine by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, which accused the semiconductor giant of using hefty rebates to convince Samsung Electronics Co. and other South Korean computer makers to not use central processing units, or CPUs, manufactured by AMD.

Intel shares fell 97 cents, or 4.06 percent, to close at $22.90 on Friday.

AMD shares fell 35 cents, or 4.5 percent, to close at $7.43.

"I'M IN A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND!"

"Senior NYC crane inspector accused of corruption - NYC crane inspector accused of taking bribes; city says charges not tied to fatal collapses"

By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:32 p.m., Friday, June 6, 2008

NEW YORK -- A senior city buildings official took bribes in exchange for falsely reporting that cranes had been inspected and that crane operators had been certified, but his actions did not appear to be connected to two recent crane collapses that killed nine people, authorities said Friday.

James Delayo, an assistant chief inspector with the Department of Buildings' cranes and derricks division, accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from a crane company, Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in a statement.

In return, he signed off on crane inspections that he did not perform and helped crane operators cheat on licensing exams by providing questions and answers, the city said.

Delayo's actions apparently had no connection to two cranes involved in fatal collapses this year.

Both of those cranes were tower cranes, not the mobile cranes at the center of the investigation into Delayo, she said.

It is troubling that an official responsible for ensuring cranes are safe in New York City would be "selling out his own integrity in a way that compromised public safety," Hearn said.

City investigators did not identify the company that allegedly bribed Delayo.

They said Delayo had been taking the bribes for eight years.

Delayo, 60, has worked for the Buildings Department since 1982, a career that spans the administrations of four mayors and several buildings commissioners.

The Department of Investigation said he earns $74,224 and faces suspension from his job.

Delayo was released without bail after he was arraigned Friday on charges of bribe receiving, tampering with public records, falsifying business records, filing a false instrument and receiving unlawful gratuities.

He entered no plea and his lawyer, Lawrence Linzer, declined to comment.

The charges represent another embarrassment for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration as it tries to quell the outrage over the two collapses.

Bloomberg said in a statement that his administration has "zero tolerance for any corruption anywhere in city government," and said it was particularly deplorable that it occurred in an agency charged with protecting the public.

The mayor's last Buildings Commissioner resigned following the collapse of a crane in March that left seven people dead.

Acting Commissioner Robert Limandri said he was "outraged" by investigators' findings.

He pledged to forge ahead with major reforms at the agency.

In Delayo's first year on the job, a derrick boom that he had reportedly inspected himself was involved in a fatal collapse on a construction site in midtown Manhattan.

According to news reports, Delayo had inspected and "approved for use" the 70-foot derrick boom a week before it collapsed; a panel later blamed engineering deficiencies in the accident, which killed one person.

Mobile cranes move around on the ground and are smaller than tower cranes, which are fixed and typically assembled piece by piece at a construction site.

On a large building project in the city, one might see one or two tower cranes and several other mobile cranes working down below.

Right now citywide, there are about 200 mobile cranes in operation and 26 tower cranes, according to the Department of Buildings.

"Albany DA to release Spitzer, aides testimony in probe"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:02 p.m., Friday, June 6, 2008

ALBANY -- Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares said Friday that he will release the secret testimony of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his top aides in the dirty tricks probe that consumed much of Spitzer's abbreviated term.

Soares will release thousands of pages of documents sought by several news organizations after the material is reviewed according to county policy.

The testimony could show how involved Spitzer was in the work of two staffers who collected state police travel logs that showed Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno -- Spitzer's adversary -- used state aircraft on days he attended fundraisers.

Soares found no criminal wrongdoing, but concluded Spitzer may have lied about his role.

Spitzer resigned in March amid a prostitution scandal.

"This office will comply ... despite the fact that there are serious concerns about pending and future investigations," Soares' special counsel, Christopher D. Horn, wrote to five news organizations that had requested the documents under the state Freedom of Information Law.

Soares had denied initial requests because of pending investigations, but has decided to released the records after the county appeals officer for FOIL records and Robert Freeman of the state Committee on Open Government supported the news organizations' cases.

No date for release of the records has yet been set.

In his second report on the case, Soares concluded Spitzer may have lied when he told investigators he wasn't involved in a plot to embarrass Bruno and that Spitzer could have been indicted had he not resigned in disgrace on March 17.

When Soares did his initial investigation, the report on which was issued Sept. 21, 2007, top Spitzer aides kept the governor's communications director, Darren Dopp, from testifying.

But Dopp later recounted conversations and e-mails to Soares.

The testimony contained in a March 28, 2008, report indicated Dopp was directly ordered by Spitzer, in a profanity laced exchange, to release records that could embarrass Bruno and perhaps lead him deeper into an ongoing federal investigation.

Dopp had faced a possible perjury charge because a statement released by the Spitzer administration about the scandal differed from his own testimony.

The State Investigations Commission and the Senate's investigations committee continue to investigate.

Spitzer's spokesmen didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Democrat hasn't commented publicly since his March 17 resignation and while the federal investigation into a prostitution continues.

"Paterson tightens standards for use of consultants"

Associated Press

Last updated: 3:42 p.m., Friday, June 6, 2008

ALBANY -- Gov. David Paterson is ordering state agencies to watch their spending when they choose to give work to a private consultant instead of a state worker.

The executive order only lets agencies use consultants when it's the most efficient or cost-effective option.

Unions sought the move to protect the state employees who make up their membership.

It's not uncommon for agencies to hire professional consultants, often engineers.

Paterson's executive order creates a task force to track contracts worth more than $1 million per year.

Agencies who contract with consultants will have to explain to the task force within 10 days why they didn't use state employees.

The Division of the Budget projects the state will spend more than $800 million on consultants in 2008-2009.

"Biodiesel plan sees a payoff in weeds - Albany company gets financing to produce fuel from unwanted plants"

By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, June 6, 2008

ALBANY -- Could weeds be the next big source of biodiesel?

An Albany-based startup believes so, and is lining up millions of dollars in financing to construct plants in Fulton, Oswego County, and Hampton, Washington County.

Innovation Fuels Inc. already operates a plant in New York Harbor that makes biodiesel from nonedible oils -- animal fats and used vegetable oils -- producing 40 million gallons a year.

The 1-year-old company also has acquired a biodiesel production facility being developed at the Port of Milwaukee.

But Innovation Fuels also is looking at other plant sources -- mustard seeds, pennycress and camelina -- that could produce the oils for biodiesel, said chief executive John Fox.

"They grow in northern regions, and grow in the shoulder months," he said in a phone interview Thursday.

The plants could be interplanted with corn and soybeans, and harvested with the same equipment.

"You can do two plantings a year."

In the past, the plants have been considered annoyances.

"There's a lot of research on how to eradicate them, but very little on how to cultivate them," Fox said.

Biodiesel and ethanol -- two alternatives to gasoline and diesel -- have been criticized for diverting food crops to fuel.

Ethanol producers mainly use corn to produce the gasoline additive.

Fox blamed the recent surge in food prices on the rising costs of energy, not the production of biofuels.

He said the weeds being explored as oil sources can yield 80 to 100 gallons of biodiesel per acre, compared to 40 gallons per acre for soybeans.

Innovation Fuels on Tuesday announced it had lined up $15.5 million in financing from Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group on behalf of the New York Common Retirement Fund, RNK Capital and Lyrical Partners.

Last month, it announced a line of credit with Citizens Bank, although the amount was not disclosed.

The company employs about three people at its Albany headquarters, which it chose because of the central location, Fox said.

The biodiesel portion of an earlier company founded by Fox, Homeland Energy, was merged into Innovation Fuels, along with Hampton Biofuels.

The new plant in Fulton is projected to produce 5 million gallons of biodiesel annually, while the Hampton plant could eventually produce 50 million gallons a year.

Fox said it would be starting out at a smaller size.

He declined to say how much the two plants would cost, or how many people they would employ.

He said those figures would be released as the plans are closer to completion.

Developers in the fall of 2005 proposed two separate biodiesel production plants for the Port of Albany.

Neither was built.

The Albany Port District Commission is negotiating with developers who propose building an ethanol production plant, a project that could cost up to $350 million.

Eric Anderson can be reached at 454-5323 or by e-mail at eanderson@timesunion.com.

"Cuomo forces ratings reform - Deal overhauls review process for investments in risky mortgage debt"

By JOE BEL BRUNO, Associated Press

First published: Friday, June 6, 2008

NEW YORK -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement with Wall Street's three major credit-rating agencies Thursday that would overhaul how they evaluate investments backed by risky mortgage debt.

Cuomo, flanked at a news conference in New York City by executives from Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Ratings, and Standard & Poor's, said the new guidelines will have "a dramatic effect on the industry."

An investigation was launched in February to determine how mortgage-backed securities, home loans that are pooled together and sold as investments, carried high ratings yet still collapsed during the subprime crisis.

The deal applies only to riskier, nonprime loans in the U.S., and is designed to end what the industry calls "ratings shopping" that pits credit-rating agencies against one another.

The $5 billion rating agency industry has been accused of issuing favorable ratings to secure business with leading Wall Street investment banks.

Investment banks looking to issue mortgage-backed bonds previously went to all three agencies for a review, but banks would only use, and pay for, the most optimistic rating.

The agencies will now get paid up front regardless if they are hired to assign a rating, a move expected to avoid any conflict of interest.

"The economic benefits for the ratings agency was to see the transaction close," Cuomo said.

"If the investment bank didn't like where the process was going, they would just go to another rating agency."

"The rating agencies will now undertake new standards."

The overhaul is reminiscent of former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's settlement six years ago with investment banks over how they conduct stock research.

The banks were accused of pressuring analysts to put out favorable reviews of stocks to help maintain and attract investment banking business.

The three ratings agencies also signed a letter of agreement to continue working with Cuomo to pursue further reforms for the mortgage industry.

The attorney general said his probe into the entire mortgage industry, including loan originators and big banks, is continuing.

"We continue to believe that the more our customers, investors and other market participants know about how we do our work, the better," said Deven Sharma, president of Standard & Poor's.

"We continue to work with the attorney general and policymakers to support effective operations of the world's capital markets."

The reform package also forced rating agencies to require investment banks to provide more detailed data on packaged loans before a rating can be issued.

The standards in which they review these pools must also be posted on their Web sites.

Cuomo said all three agencies have favored such rules, but none of them wanted to act alone.

The changes will be implemented within the next six months.

Putting more restrictions on the rating agencies, criticized for not sounding the alarm soon enough over risky mortgage investments, is just one step Cuomo sees in reforming the housing industry.

While agencies were motivated to churn out favorable ratings to collect fees, big Wall Street firms were at the same time pressuring loan originators to sell more mortgages.

Cuomo's office worked on the reforms alongside the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The regulator will vote on its own set of reforms on June 11.

WE HAVE A CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST OCCURRING HERE UNDER DEMOCRAT DAVID PATERSON, IT CERTAINLY DOES SEEM ...

HANDING CONTROL OF OUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OVER TO A BANKER WHO CAN PROFIT FROM HIS INVOLVEMENT HERE AS CEO OF M&T BANK ...

A BANKER WHO ALSO HAS A POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST DUE TO HIS POSITION ON THE BOARD OF THE NEW YORK STATE BUSINESS COUNCIL, WHICH IS A LOBBY GROUP FOR BUSINESSES IN NYS ...

And so ...

"'New sheriff' for state's economy - Governor taps M&T Bank CEO to lead economic development agency"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, June 6, 2008

ALBANY -- Robert G. Wilmers, the head of M&T Bank, was tapped to be the unpaid chairman of Empire State Development Corp. on Thursday, Gov. David Paterson announced.

The unpaid nature of the state job will allow the 74-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of the $66 billion-asset M&T to keep his $925,000 job there.

Wilmers is charged with finding upstate and downstate directors to team together under him at ESDC, Paterson's office said.

Wilmers joined Paterson in Rochester in a public appearance, noting that he has been a constant critic of the lack of success in improving the upstate economy.

"Gov. Paterson determined that the best way to shut me up was to give me this job," he joked.

ESDC has lost its three top officers in recent weeks as Paterson overhauls the structure and management.

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's hand-picked leaders resigned as Paterson dismantled Spitzer's system of two paid chairmen, one for upstate and one for downstate.

Just a few hours before Wilmers was selected for chairman, Dan Gundersen, the lone remaining ESDC leader, revealed he was stepping down.

Gundersen served as upstate chairman while Patrick Foye, who resigned earlier, focused on downstate.

Government insiders said the arrangement caused inefficiencies and competition for staff attention.

"We can drive the economies of upstate and downstate with a single plan," said Paterson.

"There's a new sheriff in town and I'm going to insist on it."

"For too long our economic development has been thought to be politically motivated, patronized often with poor judgment and often with too much cronyism," he said.

"That is going to stop on a permanent basis."

Wilmers praised Paterson as the "Dewitt Clinton of the 21st Century," the former governor who is credited with developing the Erie Canal.

A resident of both Buffalo and Manhattan, Wilmers made the Forbes list last year of top paid CEOs, with $10.45 million in total compensation, most of that from stock gains from M&T options.

M&T Securities had been listed by ESDC in an Empire Zone report as a company that had not lived up to its commitments, but officials with Paterson and the company described that as an error Thursday.

Economic development professionals applauded Wilmers' appointment.

"Wilmers has been a passionate advocate for upstate New York over the last two decades," said Brian McMahon, executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council, which represents economic development professionals.

"He's from New York City."

"He has done business throughout New York state because his bank is throughout the state."

"He is an outstanding choice."

McMahon added that "Upstate New York is going to miss Dan Gundersen."

"He was a tremendous asset."

Gundersen drew criticism from several lawmakers for setting up a residence in Saratoga Springs even though he was hired to work from the Buffalo-based upstate headquarters of ESDC.

He ended up moving to Buffalo and giving himself a pay raise of $27,500 for a salary of $187,500.

He could not be reached for comment.

"I can't find a finer public servant in New York State than Dan Gundersen."

"He hit the ground running and served admirably the people of New York," said Assembly Economic Development Committee Chairman Robin Schimminger, D-Kenmore.

"I've know Bob Wilmers since he arrived in Buffalo many years ago."

"... He will be an excellent addition to the Paterson team."

Wilmers' post requires Senate confirmation.

Paterson is looking for the appointment to take effect July 12.

Wilmers is a member of the board of the Business Council of New York State.

He also served as chairman of the New York Bankers Association in 2002 and was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1993 to 1998.

"We were concerned that the drift would be back to where we were before (Spitzer): for upstate to be involved in economic development, we would have to go through Manhattan," said Larry Brinker, government relations director for the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce and a member of Unshackle Upstate.

"By appointing Mr. Wilmers, we in upstate have a strong voice."

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

"Medicaid will refuse to pay for hospital errors - 'Never events' include procedures performed on wrong body part or patient, medication errors"

By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press

First published: Friday, June 6, 2008

ALBANY -- When patients walk into a hospital they generally expect to walk out healthier -- and some things are just never supposed to happen.

Soon, New York hospitals won't be able to bill Medicaid for mistakes during surgery, medication errors and other deadly complications caused by preventable hospital blunders.

The state Department of Health tracks these "never events," or mistakes that should never happen.

In October, Medicaid will stop paying for things like wrong-site surgery, wrong patient procedures, disability associated with treatment, medication errors and other problems.

The idea is to shift the burden to hospitals, practices and doctors if they make a dangerous mistake.

Last year, New York had 20 medical cases where a procedure was performed on the wrong patient or the wrong body part.

In another 106 cases, officials found incorrect procedures or treatments, or wrong patient invasive procedures -- more than the 95 reported in 2006.

In 2007, New York hospitals also had 26 cases where a medication error occurred, six resulting in permanent patient harm, 11 nearly killing the patient, and nine cases where the patient died, according to the Health Department.

In 122 cases in 2007, medical professionals left foreign objects inside a patient's body cavity after surgery.

That's slightly down from 129 in 2006.

The state Health Department expects to save $6 million from the change.

New York's Medicaid program is among the most expensive in the nation, costing taxpayers $47 billion a year.

Health officials say New York is following the lead of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and patients won't get stuck with the tab.

William Van Slyke, a spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents hospitals, said the association had adopted its own policies for never events, but questioned portions of the new plan.

"3rd guilty plea in case of escort service that felled NY Gov"

By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:32 p.m., Monday, June 9, 2008

NEW YORK -- A man accused of running an escort service that led to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's downfall will plead guilty, his lawyer said Monday.

Murray Richman confirmed that Mark Brener, 62, will appear Thursday in federal court in Manhattan after negotiating a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney's office.

Richman declined to discuss the details of the plea but called it "fair."

"I think it would be inappropriate at this time," he said.

Richman did say the deal would be similar to the one federal prosecutors reached with Cecil Suwal.

The plea deal was reached about a week ago, he said.

Suwal, 23, ran the day-to-day operations of the escort service.

She pleaded guilty to a pair of federal conspiracy charges on June 3.

The plea bargain calls for Suwal, who has no criminal record, to receive between 21 and 27 months in prison -- but a judge could depart from that recommendation.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment Monday on the Brener plea deal.

Along with Suwal and Temeka Rachelle Lewis, one of the agency's bookers, Brener would be the third of four defendants to plead guilty in the high-profile case.

Prosecutors say that Spitzer was a client of the "Emperors Club V.I.P."

Spitzer resigned ignominiously March 12, leaving his reputation in tatters.

He has not been charged.

Lewis arranged a date between a prostitute with the pseudonym Kristen and a man identified in court papers as "Client-9," later revealed to be Spitzer, according to prosecutors.

The pair's Feb. 13 rendezvous in Washington, D.C., was monitored by federal law enforcement.

She pleaded guilty in May to promoting prostitution and money laundering.

Lewis agreed to tell everything to federal authorities but there was no provision in Suwal's arrangement calling on her to cooperate with investigators in the probe of the ring's activities.

Another hooker booker, Tanya Hollander, is also in plea talks with the federal government, her lawyer said.

Michael C. Farkas said his client hopes to reach a resolution in the next couple of weeks.

"We've been actively discussing a plea with the government," Farkas said.

Brener, a widower and former financial consultant from Israel, had a license to represent taxpayers before the IRS.

He lived in Cliffside Park, N.J. with Suwal -- a former University of Miami student who graduated from a prestigious prep school.

"Ex-trooper fights back in NY state police probe, seeks data"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 3:22 p.m., Monday, June 9, 2008

ALBANY -- The former state police commander at the center of claims a rogue unit did political dirty tricks for two governors has asked for internal e-mails from the state agency that fired him, information he believes will prove his innocence.

Daniel Wiese, a retired state police official who headed the security detail for Gov. George Pataki and was close to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, wants e-mails between 13 employees at the state Power Authority, which fired him May 23, according to a copy of a letter obtained Monday.

Power Authority spokeswoman Christine Pritchard had no immediate comment.

Wiese was suspended April 1, when Attorney General Andrew Cuomo began investigating claims state police were used for political purposes.

Cuomo said Wiese's computer and cell phone were scrubbed clean of information just as the probe was made public.

Wiese denies that and copies of his e-mails before April 1 were recorded and are available for an unrelated civil lawsuit involving the authority and another employee.

"We strongly believe that Dan Wiese was knowingly fired in violation of several of NYPA's own human resources policies," said Wiese's attorney, Kevin Kitson.

"Once NYPA provides us with our requested documentation we will consider all applicable legal remedies."

Kitson will also seek Wiese's employee evaluations.

Wiese has said he knew of no rogue state police operation.

Pataki and two previous state police superintendents also rejected the idea of a rogue element in the long gray line.

Gov. David Paterson has said suspicions about political misdeeds by an element of the state police include accusations by "more than 10" unidentified lawmakers who said troopers followed and stopped them for traffic infractions.

One lawmaker complained that he was stopped for speeding and, before he drove home, the incident was already mentioned on a blog.

There are no accusations by law enforcers at this point that any state police broke laws, threatened or harassed political figures.

Wiese is a longtime confidant of Pataki and Spitzer, a Democrat who resigned in March after he was identified in a prostitution investigation.

Pataki, a Republican, appointed Wiese inspector general at the Power Authority.

He also appointed most members of the authority board that fired Wiese.

"Good timing for good deal"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, June 9, 2008

The widow of former state Sen. Ron Stafford last month bought a home from the elder son of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno at an apparent premium, at a time when she is seeking legislation that would benefit her company.

Kay Stafford bought 303 Bulson Road, Brunswick, for $475,000 from Joseph M. Bruno.

Town records show the three-bedroom residence on 17 acres, which is next to the senator's, is assessed at $74,100, with a total market value of $304,938.

The deed transfer was recorded May 13.

Stafford did not return calls.

In 2000, she married Sen. Ron Stafford, R-Plattsburgh, an ally of Sen. Bruno.

As Finance Committee chair, Sen. Stafford was second to Bruno in influence in the Senate.

He died three years ago after nearly 40 years in the Senate.

Kay Stafford leads CMA Consulting in Latham, a company that state comptroller records show has received 199 state contracts since 1998 worth $94.6 million.

Most of that work -- in computer programming services and technical database services -- came in recent years.

CMA would benefit from a law proposed by Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt, D-Rochester, that would allow counties to install cameras at traffic lights.

The bill would require technology offered by CMA Consulting.

Gantt has come under criticism for the measure because he long opposed traffic light cameras.

He changed his position after CMA hired his friend and former staffer Robert Scott Gaddy as its lobbyist.

Gantt said he does not know Stafford and has never talked to her.

John McArdle, the Senate communications director, said Kay Stafford had been a friend of the Bruno family for 25 years, and she saw the home in Brunswick as an opportunity to live closer to her grandchildren, who live in Williamstown, Mass.

At about the same time he sold his home, Bruno's son quit his $104,000 post as director of job order contracting at the State University Construction Fund on May 15, state records show.

His state career began in 1995, shortly after his father rose to lead the Senate's Republican majority and Gov. George Pataki took office.

Contributors included State editor Jay Jochnowitz and Capitol bureau reporter James M. Odato. Got a tip? Call 454-5083 or e-mail jodato@timesunion.com.

"Former state IG inspector gets probation in fraud case"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 6:20 p.m., Monday, June 9, 2008

ALBANY -- A former investigator for the state Inspector General's office was sentenced to federal probation today for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme that allegedly involved a network of accomplices.

Mark R. Slagen, who will turn 54 Wednesday, had faced up to a year in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

But U.S. District Senior Judge Thomas J. McAvoy granted prosecutors' motion for leniency for Slagen, who had cooperated against other conspirators in a scheme that involved sharply inflating the values of homes to steal from banks and lending institutions.

Slagen, a married father of three children, was fired from his state Inspector General's job in June 2005.

Slagen, who had worked as a state investigator for about 10 years, pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy count last July.

He now works in a maintenance position with the state Education Department, records show.

Slagen is a former Rensselaer police officer and had also previously worked as an investigator with the state Department of Motor Vehicles, records show.

He was paid to be a "straw purchaser'' for Anthony J. Andersen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in October for his role in running an elaborate mortgage fraud scam involving numerous area properties, many in Troy.

Andersen paid Slagen cash after Slagen agreed to buy two overvalued homes in 2001 and 2002.

The loans were defaulted on, costing banks about $198,000 in losses.

The properties "sold'' to Slagen were at 36 13th St., Troy, and 30-32 Partition St., Rensselaer.

Andersen faces sentencing in September for his guilty plea last fall to two felony counts.

"Mr. Slagen acted out of character here, became embroiled in financial problems and, in a weak moment, began doing this or got involved in this with Mr. Andersen,'' Slagen's attorney, Donald T. Kinsella, told McAvoy.

"He's now gone from a well-paying, white-collar ... job, as an investigator with the state office of Inspector General, to maintenance worker for the state Department of Education.''

In court today, Slagen's wife and daughter sat in the back of a near-empty courtroom.

Slagen's brother, Steve, who is a sergeant for the New York State Police, also was in the courtroom and wearing his trooper's uniform.

The brothers embraced as Mark Slagen left the courtroom to report to federal probation officials.

His sentence will include six months home confinement, McAvoy said.

"Sweeney connections to lobbyist examined - Relationship is part of federal criminal probe related to earmarks"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS and JAMES M. ODATO, Staff writers, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008

ALBANY -- A federal criminal investigation is focusing on the relationship of lobbyist William D. Powers and former U.S. Rep. John E. Sweeney in connection with a series of federal grants that were steered to Powers' clients, according to several people familiar with the probe.

The probe is being overseen by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C.

Several people familiar with the case said it is centered on a period when Powers' clients received the earmarks while Sweeney's then-wife, Gayle, was working for Powers' Albany-based lobbying firm.

Armed with a search warrant, federal attorneys and FBI agents from Albany and Washington appeared at Powers & Co.'s 90 State St. office building on Friday.

They confiscated files and interviewed employees who were encouraged to remain in the office during the search.

It's not clear whether Powers was present.

"The FBI conducted investigative activity at that location last week relating to an ongoing investigation."

"No other details are available at this time," said Paul Holstein, the FBI's chief division counsel in Albany.

"The FBI obtained records on Friday and neither Mr. Powers nor his firm is a target of an investigation," said Donald T. Kinsella, a criminal defense attorney retained by Powers' firm.

"They intend to cooperate."

Powers, 66, of Chatham, has been a lobbyist since he stepped down as state GOP chairman in 2001 after holding the position for 11 years.

Most of the lobbying work by Powers' firm involves state government, and several big-ticket clients, such as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which paid his firm $180,000 a year in 2005 and 2006, Sweeney's final two years in Congress.

Just five federal clients were identified on a U.S. Senate Web site, including some that are also on his state list, such as the Lincoln Center, which has gotten several public grants for its building projects.

"We believe that the support we've received has come to us on our merits."

"We got it on the merits," said Betsy Vorce, the center's vice president for public relations.

She could not say why Powers was selected as its lobbyist and whether Sweeney was instrumental in the funds received.

The Shaker Museum and Library near Powers' Columbia County home, which was recently put up for sale at $3.25 million, received a grant from Sweeney while Powers represented the museum, according to a watchdog group and public records.

Powers' wife, Judith, is a long-time member of the museum board and both she and her husband have been strong "supporters," said David Stocks, museum president.

State records show Powers lobbied for free but it is unclear if he was paid for representing the museum in Washington.

Stocks, who joined the museum last fall, said he assumes Sweeney set up a $350,000 grant for restoration of the museum's Great Stone Barn.

The grant was linked to Sweeney by Citizens Against Government Waste.

Sweeney and Powers are longtime friends.

And the then-future congressman served as the executive director of the state Republican party when Powers ran the organization.

Powers put Sweeney's wife, Gaia or "Gayle," on the payroll after Sweeney got to Washington.

The Sweeneys began divorce proceedings not long after Sweeney lost his re-election bid.

Neither Sweeney nor his ex-wife could be reached for comment.

Nor could Powers or his wife.

Kinsella, who is a former longtime federal prosecutor, would not say what sparked the investigation or who the FBI is reporting to on the matter.

Other people familiar with the investigation said federal authorities are exploring the circumstances by which Sweeney helped obtain federal funding for groups that had hired Powers' firm for lobbying.

Powers' federal clients included Siena College, which received transportation funding near its Loudonville campus.

The college paid Powers at least $35,000 to represent it, according to state records.

Powers' firm helped Siena lobby for public funds when the college planned to expand across Route 9.

The private school received $240,240 for a perimeter road, part of earmarks totaling $1.3 million sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sweeney.

Sweeney's ex-wife worked at Powers' firm until shortly after Sweeney lost a re-election bid in November 2006.

The investigation of Sweeney and Power's relationship is a typical investigation for the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section.

It has opened other probes in recent years on jobs given to the wives of congressmen or their lobbyists in relation to federal earmarks.

The public corruption investigators focus on federal crimes related to election fraud and abuse of public trust by elected or appointed officials at all levels of government.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

"Exclusive: FBI removes files from office of ex-GOP chief Powers"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS and JAMES M. ODATO, Staff writers, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 2:02 p.m., Tuesday, June 10, 2008

ALBANY -- FBI agents removed files last Friday from the State Street offices of William D. Powers, a lobbyist and the state's former Republican chairman.

Powers, of Chatham, has been a lobbyist since he stepped down as state GOP chairman in 2001 after holding the position for 11 years.

It's unclear why the FBI took files from Powers' office at 90 State St., or, whether it is part of a criminal investigation.

"The FBI conducted investigative activity at that location last week relating to an ongoing investigation."

"No other details are available at this time,'' said Paul Holstein, the FBI's chief division counsel in Albany.

Powers had been credited in the 1990s with reviving the state's GOP from bankruptcy and turmoil.

His most notable achievement came in 1994 behind the successful inaugural campaign of former Gov. George Pataki's victory over then-Gov. Mario Cuomo.

A person familiar with the circumstances of the FBI's raid said it does not appear to be connected to an ongoing federal grand jury investigation of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick.

Powers could not be immediately reached for comment.

An attorney for Powers said he is not a "target'' of the FBI and that he is cooperating with the investigation.

The attorney declined further comment.

WE HAVE GONE FROM HAVING A PROSITUTE-USING PETTY TYRANT FOR A GOVERNOR HERE IN NYS TO HAVING WHAT APPEARS TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN A WEAK, BLIND FOOL WHO IS BEHOLDEN TO SPECIAL INTERESTS WHO THINKS OUR STATE TAX DOLLARS BELONG TO HIM TO HAND OUT TO SPECIAL INTERESTS AS HE CHOOSES, AND PROVISIONS OF OUR STATE CONSTITUTION TO THE CONTRARY BE DAMNED ....

"Governor supports cleaner coal plant in Chautauqua County"

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:52 p.m., Tuesday, June 10, 2008

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday promised up to $6 million of state funding toward the development of a new kind of coal-fired power plant in Chautauqua County.

The Jamestown plant would serve as a demonstration facility for an emerging technology that captures carbon dioxide emissions and sequesters the heat-trapping gas underground and out of the atmosphere.

"There is no silver bullet to solving the twin threats of climate change and growing energy demand, and New York should have a comprehensive strategy to address both," said Paterson, who visited the Jamestown site Tuesday.

Paterson committed up to $6 million to a coalition researching the project.

The Oxy-Coal Alliance, made up of Praxair, Dresser-Rand, Ecology & Environment, Foster Wheeler, Battelle Labs, the University at Buffalo and AES Corp., is seeking additional funding through federal grants.

"This is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate new, world-class technology right in our own community," Charles McConnell, a Praxair vice president said.

"Demonstration projects are fundamental to building a road map to commercial implementation of carbon dioxide capture technology in the future."

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities has been planning a new municipal plant since 2003.

The idea of making it a demonstration project for carbon sequestration emerged last July in response to environmental concerns.

The project has the potential to remove more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, BPU officials said.

"The BPU has been committed to developing a plan to replace our aging plant facilities in a way that would meet or exceed environmental restrictions, striving for carbon neutral or negative emissions," BPU Chairman John Zabrodsky said.

Several environmental groups, however, say Jamestown does not need another plant to replace one being shut down which supplies about 20 percent of customers' electricity.

They say the city's needs could be met more cleanly and less expensively by a combination of energy efficiency and renewable energy development.

In a statement, opponents including the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, New York Public Interest Research Group and the Atlantic chapter of the Sierra Club, also criticized Paterson for investing state money in "unproven technology during a time of fiscal crisis" and for doing so before the completion of environmental studies.

"This power plant is ill-advised from both environmental and economic points of view and does not deserve to go forward," said Walter Simpson, co-founder of the Western New York Climate Action Coalition.

Opponents said the cost of the carbon capture and storage technology would increase the cost of electricity produced by the plant by as much as 40 percent.

One thing the state hopes to determine with the project is whether sequestration works in New York's geology, particularly upstate where it is considered favorable.

The carbon dioxide can be sequestered 3,000 to 5,000 feet below the ground, beneath a layer of solid cap rock.

Researchers on the Jamestown project also will explore ways to reuse carbon dioxide.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., praised the state investment, saying the project "propels Jamestown and upstate to the forefront of energy innovation when the sky-high price of oil shows we must diversity our energy supply."

Several conditions must be met before the project can go forward, including the establishment of a sequestration site.

Also, the state must enact legislation authorizing the siting of a carbon capture and sequestration facility in New York.

A working group of scientists and other experts will help guide the legislation.

The project, which could be operational in 2013, would create about 28 new jobs, retain 33 others and create 525 temporary construction jobs.

"Union foes killing property tax cap in NY Legislature"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:12 p.m., Tuesday, June 10, 2008

ALBANY -- A proposed property tax cap supported by Gov. David Paterson, his expert tax-relief commission, and 72 percent of New Yorkers isn't likely to even reach the floor of the Legislature this session.

Powerful labor unions joined New York's teachers' unions lobbying lawmakers Tuesday to kill the proposal, which would limit the growth of local property taxes to about 4 percent a year.

School officials, education advocates and union leaders argued the cap would hurt classroom instruction and slow some recent progress improving student performance.

They said a limit would be especially difficult in a time of rising costs for fuel, health care and pension costs.

But Paterson's commission found 71 percent of a district's budget goes to salaries and benefits, mostly for unionized workers, and that despite record state aid -- nearly $1.8 billion this year alone -- property taxes continue to rise.

They are now the country's highest at 79 percent above the national average.

Lawmakers facing an election year have little interest in crossing Albany's powerful labor groups, which spend millions of dollars a year in campaign contributions, political support and lobbying.

And neither Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno nor Sheldon Silver, the Democratic speaker in the Assembly, has supported Paterson's plan.

"We agree that something has to be done," said David Albert of the state School Boards Association, which opposed the measure Tuesday.

"We have to be responsible to the electorate, but at the same time, we have to make sure we provide a sound education."

"People are willing to pay more in taxes for good quality schools," he said.

The association estimates 75 percent of the cost of local and state school funding goes to salaries and benefits.

The association's 2007-08 survey of most districts finds the typical mid-career teacher, with a master's degree and 10 years experience, is paid an average of $55,670.

The average superintendent in the state makes $158,883.

Teachers' salaries are rising about 4 percent a year, according to the association's annual survey.

And most districts now require employees to contribute to their health insurance coverage, Albert said.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said New York's mean annual wage for a high school teacher is $64,020, tops among all states.

When asked Tuesday about the proposed limit, Bruno listed several other measures he supports ahead of a cap.

But none of those have much of a chance in the Assembly under Silver, who is also not supporting Paterson's proposal.

Paterson's bill, released last week, hasn't even been introduced into the session, which ends June 23.

"It might not be introduced," said NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin.

"It's not having a lot of success at this point."

But Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who headed Paterson's property tax committee, was still meeting with lawmakers Tuesday.

He said that after years of rising taxes, the time for a cap is now because it has the backing of a thorough report, the governor and angry taxpayers.

He noted a Siena College poll in January that found 72 percent of New Yorkers supported a property tax cap.

"This is something that voters are very angry about," Suozzi said, noting that property taxes are driving away employers and young New Yorkers.

He said the decade-old STAR program, which has grown to provide $5 billion in state subsidies annually to school districts, has resulted only in continued tax growth and spending beyond inflation.

When it was created, the Legislature beat back Gov. George Pataki's attempt to include a tax cap.

But on Tuesday, Suozzi was alone following the appearances by NYSUT, the school boards association, the state Parent Teachers Associations, other school, labor and the political groups with which they have long been allied.

The groups want measures other than a cap, including more state funding and a "circuit breaker" that would direct more taxpayer relief to the neediest taxpayers under established programs, including STAR.

"I think that the people who are lining up against the property tax cap are people who have grown accustomed to the status quo," Suozzi said.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

AH, YES, THE "GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION" THAT WE ARE PAYING REAL BIG BUCKS FOR HERE IN NEW YORK STATE ....

THE "GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION" THAT THESE POWERFUL UNIONS ARE PROTECTING AND DEFENDING ....

"WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE WE PROVIDE A SOUND EDUCATION", THEY TELL US ...

TALK ABOUT IMPROVING "STUDENT PERFORMANCE", ALRIGHT ...

HERE'S A DOSE OF IT NOW ....

"Broadalbin-Perth teacher admits rape"

By DAVID FILKINS, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 3:14 p.m., Wednesday, June 4, 2008

JOHNSTOWN - A former Broadalbin-Perth Middle School teacher plead guilty today to rape for having sex with a 15-year-old boy who was her former student.

Elizabeth Munn, 33, was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years' post-release supervision after pleading guilty to one count of third-degree rape, according to a statement from the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.

Munn, a married mother of two has already served two months.

She must register as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest risk of three tiers the state uses to monitor sex offenders.

Munn resigned from her job and surrendered her teaching license as part of the agreement.

The statement said Munn sought psychological and psychiatric help because of her behavior even before she knew she was being investigated.

"Leader of governor's elite guard unit retiring - Roderick Covington stepping down as State Police reorganizing group"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, June 14, 2008

ALBANY -- The head of the State Police's executive services detail, charged with guarding the governor, is retiring.

Roderick Covington's announced retirement comes amid a reorganization of the elite unit, which was stemmed from a review by Superintendent Harry Corbitt.

During his confirmation hearings in April, Corbitt told lawmakers he would look at the executive services detail, which like the rest of the agency, is also being investigated by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Following that, Corbitt was reportedly planning to change the way detail heads are appointed by turning that power over to the agency's superintendent rather than having the governor make the pick.

Cuomo's inquiry was requested by Gov. David Paterson, who wanted to make sure that officers were not engaging in political interference by tracking or harassing lawmakers or others.

"Rod Covington has had a proud and distinguished career."

"He has elected to voluntary retire but will serve in his present position until June 26," Corbitt said in a prepared statement.

"There are no allegations of any wrongdoing on his part."

"We are very proud and appreciative of his service."

Covington was friends with another former head of executive services detail, retired State Police Col. Daniel Wiese.

Last month, Wiese who was friendly with former Governors George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer and was known as an influential member of the State Police, was fired from his job as inspector general at the state Power Authority.

Covington will be replaced by Charles Day, a captain with the executive services detail since June 2006.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

IS NYS GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON JUST A LUMP OF MALLEABLE PUTTY IN THE HANDS OF THE POWERFUL SPECIAL INTERESTS PROMOTING GAMBLING IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK FOR THEIR BENEFIT?

IS HE LOOKING TO CONSOLIDATE HIS GRIP ON CORRUPTION IN NYS AS HIS PREDECESSOR ELIOT "I LIKE YOUNG PROSTITUTES" SPITZER WAS TRYING TO DO?

STAY TUNED ...

"Shakeup of racing board in works - Governor Paterson planning to appoint pro-casino senator as chairman of regulatory panel"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, June 14, 2008

ALBANY -- Gov. David Paterson on Friday announced intentions to appoint his own chairman of the Racing & Wagering Board, a pro-casino Democratic senator who likely will lead a shakeup among the executive staff of the Schenectady-based regulatory agency.

Sen. John Sabini, D-Queens, a bettor well-acquainted with tracks and casinos across the country, was nominated for a six-year appointment to the post now held by Dan Hogan, an appointee of Gov. George Pataki.

Sabini, if confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, would have to stop betting at tracks and gambling halls in New York.

He has been the ranking Democrat on the Senate Racing & Racing Committee and is well versed on racing and gambling issues.

He has been looked to as a key resource within the minority conference, said Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan.

Yet he has been facing an uphill battle to win re-election, largely because his Queens Democratic Party has endorsed rival Hiram Monseratte, a Hispanic former cop who lost to Sabini in a close race two years ago in a district with an increasing Latino enrollment.

Sabini would take the post of Commissioner Michael Hoblock, the former Republican senator from Colonie, who has been continuing to serve as commissioner since his term expired Feb. 1, according to Paterson's aides.

Hogan would remain on the commission.

Hoblock is also the former chairman of the commission who refused to step down when directed to by Pataki.

The current chairman, Hogan, has about four more years on his term remaining.

Commissioner John Simoni, a Saratoga County Republican selected by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, has about two years remaining.

The chairman, paid $120,800, picks the executive director, whose pay is $146,699.

John Cansdale currently holds the post.

The next chairman will have the ability to replace several executive posts, including Cansdale's, working in concert with Paterson.

Sabini has accepted campaign donations from the gambling industry, including $8,200 from the Oneida Indian Nation, operators of Turning Stone Casino.

AS THE DAYS GO BY, NYS GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON PROJECTS MORE AND MORE WEAKNESS AS NYS GOVERNOR ....

HE IS SEEN AS WEAK BY THE PEOPLE WHEN HE SPEAKS ...

HE IS NOT RESPECTED ...

SO HE DOES NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES ...

THE GUMPTION ...

TO STAND UP TO THE THUG-LIKE EX-BOXER WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE, THAT BEING REPUBLICAN JOE BRUNO ....

WHO IS IN IT FOR HIS OWN POCKET FIRST ...

And so ...

"End of session, but few answers - With just days remaining, solutions to problems elusive as governor faces partisan bickering in Legislature"

By IRENE JAY LIU, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, June 15, 2008

ALBANY -- With only five days left in this year's historic legislative session, Gov. David Paterson is trying to wrestle big solutions out of a distracted, fractured and weary Legislature.

But if a news conference Thursday was any indication of the state of negotiations, the governor may have to lower his expectations.

On that day, Paterson and the four legislative leaders -- Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco and Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith -- met to discuss with the media priorities for the end of the legislative session.

The news conference began conventionally but soon devolved into half-joking, clearly pointed sniping between Bruno and Silver, and the governor doing little to stop the partisan back-and-forth.

At issue in particular was the governor's bill to cap local property taxes at 4 percent per year, a proposal neither Silver nor Bruno supports.

Bruno rejected Paterson's proposal, touted the Senate Republican's proposed legislation, and blamed Silver for lack of progress on the issue.

"Nothing is going to happen."

"So we are going to cover ourselves and posture."

"I know the governor is here and I'm here talking about this, I'm hoping the speaker will be willing," he said.

Bruno's proposed legislation would eliminate residential school property taxes in school districts that vote to phase out property taxes over five years, with revenue replaced by additional state funding.

"Senator Bruno clearly wants the Assembly to protect him from his spending habits," Silver shot back.

Silver has said that he would support a tax cap, but only if it included provisions to ensure continued funding for schools.

Concluding his remarks, Bruno said to Paterson, "So, governor, thanks for the invite, thanks for your leadership, now it's up to you to get a result."

Just three months into his tenure as governor, that is precisely the challenge Paterson faces in the session's last five days amid a looming state fiscal crisis, a Legislature preoccupied with November's elections and the high-stakes fate of the Senate majority in question.

"The governor is pushing very hard to get things done, but the Senate Republicans appear to be in a state of paralysis," said Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Bronx.

"They are vulnerable on so many fronts that no matter what they do legislatively, they may hurt one of the marginal incumbents," he said.

"Anybody would have difficulty closing things down this year," Schneiderman said.

Bruno spokesman Scott Reif disagreed, saying that their cooperation with the Democratic governor demonstrates their commitment to getting things done.

"I think it's actually going pretty well," Reif said.

"If there's paralysis, it is because the Senate and Assembly Democrats are creating it," he said.

"We are showing good faith and working with the governor."

"It is the Democrats of the Senate who are creating this election-day war."

In fact, both leaders have said they will work with Paterson, but neither house has brought to a vote the governor's property tax cap legislation, or many other bills.

Of the 18 bills Paterson has introduced, only five have become law.

But in a recent interview on WMHT television, Paterson warned the Legislature about the consequences of not putting actions with words.

"I think what's upset the public about the Legislature is that everything is calculated."

"Everything is strategic."

"And somehow not addressing an issue at all becomes preferable than coming to Albany and being decision-makers," he said.

At the news conference, Paterson, Bruno and Silver asserted that they continue to negotiate a number of issues, but when asked what would be accomplished by the end of this session, the governor wouldn't go into the specifics.

"We have to draw a distinction between open government and open negotiation...you've never seen a governor and state leaders negotiating on television."

"What you do see, and what you are hearing today, is people expressing their views and debating the issues."

"The openness of negotiations -- I probably have an idea, I'd rather not share it, because real responsibility in the end is to put meaningful legislation into law by the end of this session and respond to the people of this state."

Irene Jay Liu can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at iliu@timesunion.com.

DAVID PATERSON IS ON A POWER-GRAB HERE IN NEW YORK STATE ...

HE WANTS THE LUCRATIVE GAMBLING INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK STATE TO BE IN HIS CONTROL ....

THAT IS WHERE THE MONEY IS, AFTERALL ....

IN WHAT USED TO BE CALLED "THE RACKETS" ...

BUT IS NOW CALLED STATE-SPONSORED GAMES OF CHANCE ...

AND HE IS NOT AVERSE TO GRABBING OUR STATE RAX DOLLARS FOR THIS BAIL-OUT OF HIS ....

MAKE US PAY FOR YET MORE MISMANGEMENT IN THE "GAMBLING INDUSTRY" IN NYS ....

And so ...

"State seeks a winner in OTB - Governor considers consolidating operations along with a bailout of NYC Off-Track Betting"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, June 15, 2008

ALBANY -- As Gov. David Paterson attempts to straighten out the losing ways of New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. with a state takeover, he is looking at eventually consolidating all of the other six OTBs as well, according to racing officials.

A bill drafted to allow the state to seize the assets and assume the liabilities of NYC OTB includes some provisions that would aid Capital District Regional Off-Track Betting and the five other betting operations.

But the NYC OTB bailout would mean creating the Empire State Racing Corp. with three gubernatorial appointees and one each from the Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker, to run the OTB branches in the boroughs of New York City.

The new public entity would likely propose to consolidate all the OTBs.

"The governor has indicated he wants to take a holistic look at racing just as he has with property taxes and mass transit," said Sen. John Sabini, D-Queens, Paterson's nominee to take over the state Racing & Wagering Board.

The OTBs already are pushing back on the notion of being absorbed into state government.

Capital OTB President John Signor said the bill to help NYC OTB get out of the red will likely include some provisions to help all the other OTBs by increasing the amounts taken out of winning bets, known as takeout, which is currently about the lowest in the nation. That would add $700,000 to $1 million in Capital OTB's revenues and also help improve the bottom line of the New York Racing Association, he said.

Other bill provisions expected, such as restricting out-of-state Internet betting competition, would also help, he said.

However, taking over the other OTBs isn't justified, Signor said.

Instead, Capital OTB wants to partner with other OTBs to share costs of services and cut down costs. It has been actively talking with Catskill OTB and Suffolk County OTB about such combinations. The state could become an ally, he said.

"There should be a statewide Internet site for all the OTBs and NYRA and one centralized phone betting center that all the OTBs can share and a coordinated marketing campaign with OTBs and tracks," he said.

Capital OTB serves 16 counties and the city of Schenectady and handles $200 million annually in bets. It sends about $5 million to the municipalities after covering expenses.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

"Girvin and Ferlazzo firm to pay $500,000 pension settlement"

By JAMES M. ODATO Capital bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 12:45 p.m., Wednesday, June 18, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will accept a $500,000 settlement from Girvin and Ferlazzo, an Albany law firm whose partners scored lucrative state pension credits by improperly getting listed as public school employees, an official familiar with the agreement said today.

Girvin & Ferlazzo will not only pay the penalty but will have to discontinue any attempts to have its lawyers classified as public employees in the future, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Any billings the firm does as consultants to public employers will first have to be reviewed by the Attorney General's office for at least three years under the settlement, according to the official.

The firm has worked directly for 17 districts in Hamilton, Fulton and Montgomery counties as legal consultants.

But it had partners placed on the payroll of the regional Board of Cooperative Educational Services to collect pension credits.

The manner in which it decided which partners to include on the BOCES payroll was questionable, according to the official, because the lawyers involved may or may not have actually been engaged in work for the BOCES schools.

As part of the settlement, the firm's officials will assist in any criminal investigations involving former partners.

Cuomo's office is looking into financial arrangements involving Connie Cahill, according to the official.

She was an associate who joined the firm in late 1991 when it was formed under the leadership of James E. Girvin, Salvatore D. Ferlazzo and E. Michael Ruberti, now retired.

Ruberti's pension has also been under scrutiny.

In April, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli removed four of partners, Girvin, Kathy Ann Wolverton, Kristine Lanchantin and Jeffrey Honeywell, from the state retirement system.

Cuomo is expected to announce the settlement and a resolution involving Binghamton lawyer John Hogan this morning.

"Paterson enlists voters in tax cap fight"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:32 p.m., Tuesday, June 17, 2008

ALBANY -- Gov. David Paterson, buoyed by a poll that shows three in four New Yorkers support his property tax cap proposal that's getting no debate in Albany, tried to turn up the pressure on the Legislature Tuesday in the session's waning days.

Paterson said he refuses to drop the issue that the state's powerful teachers union and other lobbyists declared dead before arrival in April.

Paterson's insistence, forcing Democratic and Republican lawmakers to choose between their labor benefactors and their voters this election year, is adding to a rising tension in Albany where the last day of the 2008 session is scheduled for Monday.

A Kingston Daily Freeman editorial Tuesday criticized the Legislature for being unwilling to take up the tax cap proposal in the face of Albany's powerful special interests.

"Taxpayers may be squealing in outrage and pain about property taxes, but it's only the pay-to-play crowd that gets heard," stated the editorial headlined "Mockery of Democracy."

Paterson said New Yorkers are "voting with their feet," leaving for lower taxes and greater job opportunities in other states.

"We're losing our human capital," he said.

On Tuesday, he had taxpayers backing him up.

"We don't want to keep losing all our friends and neighbors and sons and daughters," said Andrea Vecchio of the East Islip Taxpayers group.

"Enough is enough."

She was among anti-tax representatives and chamber of commerce members from Rochester, Binghamton, Rockland, Glens Falls and Poughkeepsie who supported Paterson, a Harlem Democrat.

They wore T-Shirts and caps with "74" emblazoned on them, referring to the 74 percent of New Yorkers supporting the 4-percent cap on the growth in property taxes, according to Monday's Siena College poll.

"74 percent," said Democratic Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi who ran Paterson's tax relief commission.

"That's better than any coalition."

"Or are they just going to ignore that and play the typical Albany game ... and do nothing and go home," Suozzi added.

The Assembly's Democratic majority and the Senate's Republican majority haven't even introduced Paterson's bill.

Instead, the majorities have opposing tax-relief measures.

That likely will keep Paterson's tax cap from a floor debate.

Paterson said the Senate Republican majority's proposal to allow school districts to phase out property taxes altogether is half a solution and would require an increase in the state income tax.

Paterson said the Assembly Democrats' plan to increase relief for the neediest taxpayers under existing programs is a good second step, but not a substitute for a long overdue cap on the nation's highest property taxes.

"I need a partner in the Assembly and we need the governor to be there," said Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Rensselaer County Republican.

"The governor is there trying to do something about property taxes."

"We ought to get something that's for real."

"We ought to do it three ways and we ought to have an open discussion about that."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, said he could support a tax cap as long as there is a "state commitment to make sure the resources are there."

Paterson also aimed at the coalition opposing a tax cap, including the New York State United Teachers union, one of the most powerful lobbyists and biggest campaign contributors in Albany.

He said it was outrageous that the coalition declared the tax cap dead weeks ago.

"The governor is obviously attempting his very best to make his arguemnt for his legislation and as advocates in a democratic system we're doing our very best to raise our argument with lawmakers and citizens," said NYSUT union President Richard C. Iannuzzi.

"Obviously, there are times when we will respectfully disagree with the governor and this is one of them."

Paterson said he will continue to present the tax cap proposal statewide, and said he may bring the Legislature back before the fall elections for a public debate.

------

AP Writer Michael Virtanen contributed to this report from Albany.

"Student, teacher missing from Buffalo school found"

Associated Press

Last updated: 6:12 p.m., Tuesday, June 17, 2008

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Authorities say a female teacher and a 14-year-old male student missing since leaving school Monday have been found safe in separate locations.

Police picked up the boy, Nicholas DeJesus, in a mall in suburban Hamburg just before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The 29-year-old teacher, Cara Dickey, was found sleeping in her car in Springville about 20 minutes later.

South Buffalo Charter School officials say Dickey was suspended and escorted from school Monday for sending what they deemed to be inappropriately affectionate text messages to the student's cell phone.

DeJesus left the school later in the day without permission.

Dickey is in police custody.

It is not clear whether she has been charged with any crime.